site.btaVarna State Puppet Theatre to Perform at Ankara Festival

Varna State Puppet Theatre’s Mowers will open the International Ankara Puppet Festival on Wednesday at Tempo Theatre. The festival in Ankara will take place from 18 to 22 October.

The Varna State Puppet Theatre will participate with two productions: Mowers (for adults) and Little Wizards (for children), the cultural institution told BTA. The group of the puppet theatre, which arrived in the Turkish capital, includes 19 people.  The troupe will be in Turkiye for the second time after 2017.  

The project is realized with the financial support of the National Culture Fund under the Mobility and Development programme, said the theater.

The Ankara festival is one of the most successful and established Turkish festivals. The event is dedicated to the world's children's and youth theatre, with a special focus on adult puppet theatre in the selection process.

The show Mowers is inspired by Elin Pelin's stories Harvest and Mowers. The music for the play weaves together original songs and music from the repertoire of the Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices. The performance will be presented with subtitles in Turkish.

The production is directed by Boyan Ivanov, the set designer is Ognyana Serafimova, choreographer Tatyana Sokolova, composer Hristo Namliev. In the roles are Boyan Stoyanov, Valentin Mitev Jr., Veselina Kalcheva, Galin Ginev, Gergana Gospodinova, Daniel Dobrev, Diana Tsolevska, Evgenia Vassileva, Ivan Shumarov, Krasimir Dobrev, Maria Tomova, Stoyan Stoyanov, Teodor Hristov.

On October 19, the children's play Little Wizards will be presented in the Turkish capital. The performance is based on motifs by Gianni Rodari. The production is by Vera Stoykova, the set design by Svila Velichkova and the music by Hristo Namliev.

The production has won awards at the national festivals Three Are Too Many, Two – Not Enough in Plovdiv, The Golden Dolphin in Varna, Mihail Lakatnik in Yambol, as well as at the International Children's Theatre Festival in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Representatives from eight countries will take part in the International Ankara Puppet Festival, which will be held for the ninth time this year. Artists from Bulgaria, Germany, South Africa, Georgia, Iran, Spain, Russia and Turkiye will present 16 plays, including 12 for children and young people and four for adults, Turkiye's state-run Anadolu News Agency reported.