A 19th-century play directed by US actor John Malkovich has enraged nationalists in Bulgaria who call it an insult to the country — a claim the Hollywood star rejected as stirred up by the far right.
Last week’s premiere of Arms and the Man by Irish-born playwright George Bernard Shaw sparked raucous protests by nationalist groups.
Holding up banners that read “Malkovich go home,” protesters on Thursday blocked access to the Ivan Vazov National Theatre in the capital, Sofia, before attempting to storm it, accusing the 70-year-old director of ridiculing the country’s history and its citizens.
Photo: AFP
“This play is a disgrace and must be banned. It makes a mockery of our ancestors who perished for Bulgaria,” shouted 21-year-old student Yoana Ilieva, part of an infuriated crowd.
After the play premiered in an almost empty theater, Malkovich expressed his astonishment over how his production was received.
“It’s a quite odd reaction, but it is a strange time in the world — more and more people love to censor things they don’t agree with,” he said at a press conference alongside several actors on stage.
Photo: AFP
Brandishing Bulgarian flags, a mob of angry protesters verbally and physically assaulted the director of the theater and the former culture minister among others.
The prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the clashes.
The play is a humorous take on the Serbo-Bulgarian conflict in the late 19th century, exploring the absurdity of war while exposing the flaws of heroic adulation and militarism.
It is a “charming, light, kind of anti-war” comedy that Malkovich had already staged on Broadway in 1985, he said in an interview.
He said he considered that seeking historical accuracy in a play was “frighteningly naive.”
Malkovich said he was “pretty sure I’ve never insulted any of the 47 countries” he has worked in, adding that such an accusation “could only be posited by people who don’t know me at all.”
“I think it’s not about the play at all. And I’m not even sure it’s about me, really,” he said.
According to Malkovich, Shaw “knew nothing about Bulgaria,” saying the playwright “just wanted a place to set the war.”
He said he believed far-right protesters were trying to grab people’s “attention for the things they want.”
Bulgaria, the EU’s poorest nation, has been plagued by political turmoil since 2021, which has favored the country’s far right amid a surge in pro-Russian disinformation campaigns, non-governmental organizations in the country said.
For the pro-Russian, ultranationalist Vazrazhdane party, the third-largest force in parliament, “not only is the play mediocre,” but the production also had “totally inadequate staging.”
Bulgaria’s conservative writers’ union SBP said “such works” had no place in Bulgaria, criticizing what it perceived as the “mockery of the thousands of soldiers who fell at the front for the freedom and reunification of the country.”
The play had already been staged twice by Bulgarian director Nikolay Polyakov in 1995 and 2000, without sparking large public outrage.
“The current climate is much more tense, with passions running high and hatred fanned against everything Western and American,” Polyakov said.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
RSS