ACADÉMIE BULGARE DES SCIENCES

INSTITUT D’ÉTUDES BALKANIQUES & CENTRE DE THRACOLOGIE

ÉTUDES BALKANIQUES

LVI / 2

Guest Editor 

Roumiana Il. Preshlenova

Sofia 2020
Ce numéro de la revue est publié avec l’aide financière du
Fonds « Recherches scientifiques »
(Ministère de l’éducation et de la science de Bulgarie)

This issue is published with the financial support of

the National Research Fund
(Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science)
 ISSN 0324-1645

ÉTUDES BALKANIQUES
Sofia ∙ 2020 ∙  LVI 2
ACADÉMIE BULGARE DES SCIENCES
INSTITUT D’ÉTUDES BALKANIQUES & CENTRE DE THRACOLOGIE

Sommaire 

Roumiana Il. PRESHLENOVA, Introduction: From the Balkan City

to the City in the Balkans: Transformations at the End of
the 19th and the Beginning of the 20th Century ......................................... 157

Dobrinka PARUSHEVA, Modern City in the Balkans:

Directions and Perspectives of Research ..................................................... 167

Andreas LYBERATOS, The Sounds of Modernity: Exploring the

Balkan Capitals’ Soundscape (Late 19th – Early 20th C.) ..........................189

Violeta MANOLOVA, Development of Sericulture in

Byzantine Cities 11th – 13th Century ........................................................... 209

Nikolay ARETOV, Dreaming Constantinople: An Alternative

Version of Petko Todorov and Nikolay Raynov ......................................... 227

Alexandre KOSTOV, New Technologies and the Cities in

the Balkans: Gas Lighting in Ottoman Constantinople
until the First World War ............................................................................... 240

Kalina PEEVA, A Strategy of a Beautification, or How

‘the Decadent Istanbul’ Turned into the ‘Pearl of Turkey’ ....................... 259
Margarita SERAFIMOVA, Istanbul and Cultural Memory ................................. 286

Stefan DIMITROV, Mastering of the Space in the Hinterland of

the Town of Edirne: Continuity and Changes (14th-16th C.) ................. 297

Zorka PARVANOVA, Bulgarians in the Urban Political Life of European

Turkey in the Immediate Aftermath of the Young Turk Coup ............... 322

Maria MARKOVA, The Bulgarians in the Western Thracian Cities

during 1913-1919 ............................................................................................ 341

Yura KONSTANTINOVA, “The Bulgarian Salonica” ......................................... 358

Malamir SPASOV, On the Past, Memory, Recollections and

History of the Bulgarians in “Simvasilevusa” ............................................. 381

Fotiny CHRISTAKOUDY–KONSTANTINIDOU, Urban Space

in the Greek Poetry of the 1920s (Based on Examples from
Caesar Emmanouil’s Works) ......................................................................... 408

Joanna Minkova SPASSOVA-DIKOVA, The Theatre and the City

on the Way of Europeanization and Modernization of
Bulgarian Culture ............................................................................................ 420

Alexandra MILANOVA, Opera and Modernization: The Case of Bulgaria ..... 435

Valeria FOL, Backstage Theater .................................................................................. 455

 ÉTUDES BALKANIQUES, LVI, 2020, 2

BACKSTAGE THEATER1

Valeria Fol

Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre for Thracology

(Bulgarian Academy of Sciences),
University of Library Studies and Information Technologies
Bulgaria

Abstract: This is a comment on some documents of historic interest from the personal
archive of Nikolai Fol, Director of the Varna National Theater in 1943 – 1944. It
tells of the evacuation of the theatre, its modus operandi, the way such a cultural insti-
tution was administered during WWII, the atmosphere in the theatre and the city of
Varna at that time, the transformation of the theatre into a symbol of modernization
and Europeanization of the city and village, as well as of the spirit of intellectuals and
artists in that situation of crisis.
Keywords: Theater, Varna People’s Theater, WWII, Nikolai Fol

I was urged by the title of the conference, namely “The Balkan city: spaces,
images, memory” and an article by Prof. Yoana Spassova-Dikova2, to put into
academic circulation some documents to do with the Varna theater during WWII,
hitherto kept in the family archive. I have placed digital copies of these documents
at the disposal of the Prof. Alexander Fol Archive at the New Bulgarian University3.

1
This work was supported by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science
under Cultural Heritage, National Memory and Social Development National Research Program
approved by DCM No 577 of  17 August 2018.
2
Й. Спасова-Дикова, Добрият и мъдър кентавър Φόλοϛ, Thracia XXIV. ΕΠΟΠΤΕΙΑ.
Сборник в чест на 85-годишнината от рождението на проф. д.н. Александър Фол. София,
ИБЦТ-БАН, 2019, с. 29-45.
3
„Моят театър (My theater), 1942-43” – album of collages, “hashed and put together”
by Hristo Dinev; it illustrated the program of the Varna Peoples’ Theater when Nikolay Fol
was its Director. [Varna] 1943. Digital copy, Колажи. 40 л.: УА-НБУ, ф. 8, оп. 1, вр. № 314.
Also: „Народен театър Варна – Втори сезон – Държавен театър 1943/1944” – отчет на
директора Николай Фол за дейността на театъра през изтеклия сезон. Дигитално копие.
Печатно. 6 л. (“Varna Peoples’ Theater, Season 2 – State Theater 1943/1944”: Report of

455
456 Valeria Fol

During WWII, Nikolay Fol worked as a director at the Varna Theater,

and simultaneously as the Director of the theater. The theater of Varna had been
established in 1921 as a municipal professional theater, and in 1942 it was made
into a state-owned theater. In the Fol family archive, there is an album of comical
collages, illustrating produced plays, plus a Director’s report on the second season of
the theater as state institution. From the relevant press we could gather information
on the qualities of directing, set design and music of the plays staged, as well as on
the actors’ performance; what we could not get is a sense of the functioning and
the atmosphere in the theater in the context of WWII. That kind of information,
however, we could gather from the Director’s report and the collages mentioned.
So, I have entitled this short text Backstage Theater, as if in dialogue with Nikolay
Fol’s book Entr’acte Theater4.
What can we learn from the Director‘s report for 1943-1944, a time of war
and bombardments? Theater life during a war gives some insight not only into
the cultural atmosphere of the city of Varna, but, as we are going to see, of the
surrounding villages too. I shall consider only some of the aspects, with the hope
that the archive materials that can now be accessed would enrich the sources on
urban and relevant rural cultural life, on the theater as a symbol of modernization
in the 1940s, the modes of administration of cultural institutions, and, last but not
least, the spirit of artists and intellectuals in a situation of crisis.
On October 7, 1943 the second Hall of the state theater of Varna was
solemnly inaugurated with a holy water rite. Then, in mid-season, the theater was
evacuated to the village of Dolni Chiflik because of the bombardments.5 In order
to go on functioning, the theater was reorganized into a traveling theater and
divided into two companies with different repertoire. At the time, the total staff
comprised nineteen actors, eleven actresses, and four female and one male interns.
As the season went on, some of the actors were drafted.6 At that time, productions
needed music, so composer Svetoslav Obretenov was contracted as a permanent
musical director; he would write the necessary music and conduct the orchestra
whenever musical illustrations were called for. Due to various difficulties, sets and
costumes for that season had to be obtained by making alterations to the ones
produced for the previous season; that was done by Nikolay Fol, artists Vlasi
Lingorski and Stancho Stanchev, and actor and director Stefan Gadoularov. It
was habitual to invite external artists for that kind of work, but that time it was

Director Nikolay Fol on the past season. Digital copy. Typescript. 6 л.): УА-НБУ, ф. 8, оп. 1,
вр. № 315.
4
Фол, Театър в антрактите.
5
УА-НБУ, ф. 8, оп. 1, вр. № 315: 3, 11.
6
Ibid. р. 8-9.
 Backstage Theater 457

not done, as outsiders would not be familiar with the “row material”.7 The report
also informs, giving names and particulars, re the new tasks allotted to actors in
the conditions of evacuation. The household problems addressed were chiefly in
connection with the necessity to secure the theater’s possessions, especially after it
was evacuated to Dolni Chiflic. It is also mentioned that the steam heating system
for the scene was repaired, so that actors would be warm enough while playing on
village tours.
Immediately following the bombing of Sofia of January 10, 1944, Lieutenant
General Nikola Hristov, commander of the Third Army, ordered the theater’s
evacuation. It is interesting how it went and what infrastructure was provided.
Director Fol wrote a detailed plan for the functioning of the theater during
evacuation. That plan was endorsed by the Minister of peoples’ education and
also by the Varna authorities. The evacuation began on January 21 and ended on
February 1, when the whole staff was assembled in the village of Dolen Chiflik.
The plan enumerates the ways and means of transporting the theater’s belongings
to that village, 40 km away. There, the theater was provided with large halls to be
used for rehearsals, ateliers, storerooms, a kitchen and canteen, living quarters, etc.,
in the local agricultural school, the secondary school and the local administration
facilities8. Already on February 2, rehearsals were restarted, and on February 20
the two companies went on the road in Northern Bulgaria, with sets specially
tailored to fit small stages. In March the two groups were united in Varna for two
premieres, and from April on, continued their tours, this time in Northern and
Southern Bulgaria. And even when the Director was mobilized and briefly away
from the theater, the two companies continued performances under the direction
of company members, authorized by the Ministry of peoples’ education9. At
first glance these details might appear minute, but they point at an adequate
functioning of state and cultural institutions
In the Report special attention is paid to the repertoire of the two
companies. The plays are listed by name, performances and audiences are counted,
and separate box office amounts are given. For each performance there is a
statement re its reception by the audience. During that season, the theater had
ten premieres, plus one for children, restored six plays, and also staged ten extra-
repertoire productions. In the repertoire were theatrical classics of the period and

7
Ibid. р. 9.
8
Ibid. р. 11.
9
Ibid. р. 12.
458 Valeria Fol

Bulgarian plays: Ibsen’s Nora10, The Golden Riverbank11 by Richard Billinger, the
social comedy „Miss Dr.” (“Dr. Szabo Yuci”) by László Fodor12, The Concert by
Hermann Bahr, River Ilieva by Stoyan Zagorchinov, Borislav by Ivan Vazov, etc.
The report draws attention to the play It Happened in America by Henry Torrès13,
claiming that it won the acclaim of audiences and the press, but was banned from
the stage after its thirteenth performance, “after a misunderstanding with the
administrative authorities”.14 Compared to the preceding season, the number of
tickets sold and box office money were nearly doubled. It is noted in the report,
though, that the bigger profits were due not only to more spectators, but also to
the higher price of tickets15.
10
Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House here is referred to as Nora. At the time, copyright laws were
not observed strictly, so both names were in use on the Bulgarian stage.
11
None of the known plays by Richard Billinger bear that name. However, in 1937
appeared his very successful play Der Gigant, (The Giant), and on its basis he co-authored a
screenplay for the 1942 film Die goldene Stadt (The Golden City). Thus, a plausible conjecture
would be that the play in question was The Giant. Probably just another renaming: the
“golden” part of the Bulgarian name The Golden Riverbank might have come from the title
of the German film; and the „riverbank“ part may have been suggested by the plot: a Sudeten
peasant girl is lured to follow a riverbank and ends in “the Golden city of Prague“, where she is
abused by a Czech, jumps into the river, and drowns!
12
The premiere of a play by László Fodor called Dr. Szabo Yuci took place in January
1926 at the Hungarian Theater of Budapest. See, e.g., the weekly Kecskeméti Szinház és
Mozi, (Theater and Film, Keczkemet, March 20, 1926, p. 7, at: http://misc.bibl.u-szeged.
hu/21769/1/kecskemeti_szinhaz_mozi_1926_003_012.pdf - 27.07.2020.
13
The Frenchman Henry Torrès did not write a play with that name. But he did translate
from the American into French (and possibly adapt) The Trial of Mary Dugan, a play by the
American Bayard Veiller. Apprently on that basis, French sources would cite Torrès as author,
admitting that his play “followed ” the American play. Without doubt, that was the play
performed under the Bulgarian name It Happened In America; whether it was translated into
Bulgarian from the American original or from the French adaptation is hard to determine with
certainty (though probably it was the latter), as there might have been political reasons for
masking the American origin of the play.
14
Recalling those times, my mother-in-law Vera Boyadzhieva-Fol told me that the play
in question had indeed been banned from the stage by the authorities on political grounds. The
word “America” was then a very political word indeed. It is quite probable that it is just that
word in the Bulgarian title of the play that caused its extraordinary popularity, despite the fact
that the play itself was critical of American society. Besides, it is probably that criticism which
provoked Henry Torrès, a left liberal, to translate it in the first place. Vera Boyadzhieva-Fol
is a reliable witness: all the time of the Varna Theater’s evacuation she was with her husband,
actively participating in his theater’s work, and on tours played the music required for the stage
on the family piano.
15
Ibid. р. 3-6.
 Backstage Theater 459

The theater’s activities were not limited to the production and performance
of plays. The aim was to make it a “real center of spiritual life”. In the report it
is stressed that such activities in 1943/1944 could not match pre-evacuation
achievements, but the troupe still managed several extra-repertoire shows: a
Yavorov matinee, with a lecture, after which the actors presented an ad hoc
prepared sequence of poetry and music; a concert by Dimitar Nenov and another,
by the chamber orchestra of Cologne; also a matinee of mourning, for King Boris
III, with poetry and prose, on the 40th day after his death. The last event drew
such a multitude that not only the theater Hall was full, but also the corridors
and foyers, so loudspeakers had to be installed. Six months after the king’s death,
another three mourning matinees were performed: in Varna and in the villages of
Dolni Chiflik and Osman.
In the spirit of the Director’s idea that the theater should become “a real
center of spiritual life”, a Museum of the Theater was established, and the official
order for its creation was widely communicated by the press. Due to the evacuation,
the exhibits and stock collected were not systematized, but in any case that was the
first theatrical museum in Bulgaria. From an ad hoc fund, made by pooling money
from the theater’s budget and a collection among the actors, a theater library was
established, and more than a hundred volumes about art were bought, along with
subscriptions for domestic and foreign theatrical periodicals, plus the daily press.
A special reading room was appointed. It soon became “a common room where
actors would socialize and also get a rest during rehearsals and performances”16.
The report on the activity of the theater in its capacity as a state cultural
institution in its second season clearly shows the efforts made to make world
samples of theatrical art available to the Bulgarian audience and to perform plays
of Bulgarian authors on an equal footing. The policy to educate the future audience
of the theater through performances for children and to include the village in
the urban culture is clearly formulated and implemented. Despite the wartime
conditions, the Varna Theater was gradually becoming a spiritual center not only
through the poster of the performances it gave, but also through the library and
the museum it established.
The album is a good illustration of the artistic atmosphere of that theater,
loaded with humor and positive energy, despite wartime difficulties17.
The report and album in question shall be published in full in the Bulgarian
version of this text. I hope that the presented documents shall help in filling some
blanks in the theatrical history of Varna during the hard days of WWII, and be

16
Ibid. p. 10-11.
17
УА-НБУ, ф. 8, оп. 1, вр. № 314.
460 Valeria Fol

also of service to researchers in the history of the towns of Bulgaria, and of its
villages ditto.

Bibliography

Fol, N. Teatar v antraktite [Н. Фол, Театър в антрактите]. Sofia, Narodna

mladezh,1971.
Spassova-Dikova, J. Dobriat i madar kentavar Φόλοϛ, Thracia XXIV. ΕΠΟΠΤΕΙΑ.
Sbornik v chest na 85-godishninata na prof. Alexander Fol [Й. Спасова-Дикова, Добрият
и мъдър кентавър Φόλοϛ, Thracia XXIV. ΕΠΟΠΤΕΙΑ. Сборник в чест на 85-годишни-
ната от рождението на проф. д.н. Александър Фол]. Sofia, IBCT-BAN, 2019, p. 29-45.
UA-NBU [УА-НБУ, ф. 8, оп. 1, вр. № 314, 315].

“My theater 1942-43” – album of collages, “hashed and put together”

by Hristo Dinev; it illustrated the program of the Varna Peoples’ Theater
when Nikolay Fol was its Director