site.btaMontenegrin Production Directed by Javor Gardev and Play About Anna Politkovskaya Featured at Varna Summer Festival

A performance by the Royal Theatre Zetski dom from Cetinje, Montenegro, is visiting the Varna Summer International Theatre Festival (ITF). The production Pillar of Salt is part of the international selection in the festival’s main programme, based on the latest play by contemporary Montenegrin playwright Aleksandar Radunovic and staged by the Bulgarian guest director Javor Gardev.

Structured as an absurdist black comedy, the play explores the evil within humans and the horror of world-shaking conflicts that new generations must confront. The production is another collaboration between Gardev and set designer Nikola Toromanov, showcasing their contemporary vision and minimalist aesthetic.

Anna, The Incorrigible (original title: Intractable Woman: A Theatrical Memo on Anna) by Orenda Art Center and Toplocentrala is another title featured today in the festival’s Showcase programme written by Stefano Massini and directed by Nadya Pancheva. Set design is by Jasmin Mandeli, who has been nominated for the 2025 Icarus Award by the Union of Bulgarian Artists, the cast includes Nevena Kaludova (also nominated for an Icarus 2025 award) and Vladimir Solakov.

The play is dedicated to Russian journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya, written in 2007, one year after her assassination. Bulgaria is the first country in Eastern Europe to stage the play.

The production by young director Nadya Pancheva is a documentary performance based on excerpts from the journalist’s personal notebooks, her reports and books, as well as real-life events surrounding her investigation of the Second Chechen War (1999–2000).