FAUST

Doctor Faust - Gabriel Arce
Old Faust - Nikolai Motov
Mephistopheles - Julian Konstantinov
Valentin - Valery Turmanov
Margarita - Besa Lugici
Zibel - Petya Petrova
Marta - Teresa Brakalova
Wagner - Ivan Kabamitov

Stara Zagora State Opera Choir, Ballet and Orchestra
Stara Zagora State Puppet Theatre Actors
Baga-Tur Pre-Bulgarian Survival School
Stara Zagora State Opera Children's and Youth Opera and Ballet Studio

The staging adheres to the powerful tradition of classicism and romanticism, complementing it with contemporary elements. Timeless themes of temptation, vanity and personal choice are interpreted. The questions are also raised, to what extent does Man, as God's creature, have power over reality and can he exercise it in the best way? The world is filled with numerous distortions. People in their thoughts and actions often err in their judgments of Good and Evil. This prevents them from living in harmony. Evil occupies a vast space that extends immediately in front of the threshold of the Divine.

The action takes place in a large courtroom where verdicts are passed. The world invented by Mephistopheles is populated by critics ready to laugh at any thought of the Sublime. They also try to possess Faust's life. In the Temple of Themis, he recognizes his love Marguerite. The distorted reality poses various obstacles to Faust. The clash between Good and Evil is personified by the puppets, which carry their images in their purest form. When Marguerite sings of her love for Faust, the puppets emerge and blossom, resembling her beautiful feeling. With Faust, the puppets express opposing suggestions, as an illustration of his lust and unrealistic expectations of the world inherent in a 75 year old man.

Ballet plays a major role in the production. The temperamental dance in Valpurgis gives an evocative plastic image of the two entities in life, Good and Evil. In the finale, Faust returns to the beginning - to his study, among his books. He shakes off a haunting dream and realizes that the experiences of his life have preserved him from the desires and compromises of youth - wealth, love, war, material wealth...

The message of the play is that every man in his existence is forced to find basic moral and life values and to overcome the distorted understandings of the world that the element of life offers him.

The play's relevance also stems from the set and costume design's modernity - with clean forms and adaptation of fantasy aesthetics and visual components typical of computer games. With these means of expression, a more immediate impact and an active relationship with the youth audience is also sought.

The premiere of the opera Faust is realized with the financial support of the National Culture Fund - Program for the Restoration of State, Regional and Municipal Cultural Institutes.

It is performed in French with subtitles in Bulgarian.

Premiere, 17 November 2022, Festival of Opera and Ballet Art - Stara Zagora

Duration 3 hours