Amazing Antiquities in Plovdiv

Roman Theatre in Plovdiv

     This past weekend we went by train to the nearby city of Plovdiv.  It took about 2 1/2 hours by an express train from Sofia.  It had been snowing for the previous day or so and we arrived to find the city covered in about 30 centimeters of new snow .  We stayed  at the Plovdiv Guest House, a 1 star hostel in the heart of the old city.  It had great reviews on-line and was very clean, safe and comfortable.  The location was ideal!

     On Saturday morning  we took a 2 hour walking tour with a guide from the hostel.  The city is amazingly old.  The Thracians were there in the 5th millennium B.C.  There are some remains of their fortifications and evidence of many subsequent inhabitants as well.  Most impressive to me was the Roman Theatre from the 2nd century A. D. pictured above.  You can read more about it in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plovdiv_roman_amphitheatre and http://ideabg.com/clients/oldtown/en/mesta/antichen.php  As you can imagine we climbed around to see it from every angle.  I even took a couple of pictures showing “backstage” as best I could.  Click on my links to pictures to see more of these shots. We’ll have to go back in warmer weather to see a show!

     There are other ancient sites in to see including a partially excavated stadium, the forum and several other unnamed but intriguing digs.  Covered in snow it was hard to make out too much but again that leaves more for a follow-up trip.

     Back to the theatre though, I couldn’t help but be taken back to Theatre History classes past and wowed by seeing a Roman scaenae frons even partially intact.  What a great experience.

Going to the Theatre in Sofia

Curtain Call

Much Ado progam

inside the program

     On Friday, February 6, 2009 we went to see our first production here in Bulgaria.  This is a photo of the curtain call of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing or Mnogo Shoum za Nishto at the Bulgarian Army Theatre.  The production was directed by Krassimir Spassov with scenography and costumes by Radina Bliznakova.  It was in Bulgarian, of course, but since it was an excellent and well-acted production it was mostly possible to follow who was who and what was going on.  Having seen Much Ado a number of times and run wardrobe once (at Albany State summer theatre), you would think I would remember every bit but of course I didn’t.

     The house was very full and included a number of high school age folks as well as a wide range of others young and old.  The production was well received by everyone. Dogberry and his henchmen were real crowd pleasers and a very handsome Benedict seemed to capture hearts as well.  As I understand it, this production has been in the repertory for a number of years and this month marks the introduction of a new cast of actors in the roles of the two young couples, Beatrice and Benedict & Hero and Claudio.  I do know that on the night we were there, there was quite a bit of excitement during the curtain call, with flowers and champagne, speeches and many, many bows.  Was it the opening night of the new cast?  We couldn’t tell but the sense of some momentous event was unmistakable.

     The theatre itself  is  a proscenium theatre with two curved balconies and a large orchestra section with well padded red velvet seats.  Guessing, I would say it seats 500 or so.  We sat in the front row of the orchestra amidst lots of younger people on either side.  The scenery was straight forward, a false proscenium of what looked to be white, painted wood with several doors and at least one window above on stage left.  There was a low raised platform area covering most of the downstage area, filmy curtains on wires which could be pulled across the stage and a small raised upstage area with some flat, painted and framed areas surrounding. (mostly visible in the photo)  Much was painted white and blue with watery or ocean images and clouds prevailing. Several straight backed chairs served in multiple scenes.  The costumes were really pleasing to me.  Not of any particular period or locale exactly but with a very definite and cohesive design.  The palette was mostly a soft off-white with black.  There were a number of great pairs of men’s boots and some memorable hats and dusters.  One of Dogberry’s cohort captivated me for an entire scene as he became fixated on his own thumb stuck in his jacket button hole.  I really couldn’t stop watching him.

     Overall a really enjoyable evening in the theatre.  Much thanks to Maria Dimanova of NATFIZ who arrange for us to see this show.    

New link to photos

I am adding some pictures of what is going on with us here in Bulgaria.  You can click on the link on the right to see more.  Those of you who know my cats Polly and Toby probaly know that they love their Whiskas.  I’m glad to see they could get their favorite food here.  Sorry they had to stay home in Maine.

Hello friends and family!

Our Front Door

Well, here it is the first actual post of my first ever blog attempt.  I’ll start by including some of the information I have already sent to some of you (my way to instantly feel as if I’ve done something).

On February 12th

     I have 4 days of language class under my belt and am feeling a little cocky about my ability to sound out words. I am in the very beginning group with 2 other women. My fellow students and teacher are really very pleasant so three hours of class each day goes pretty quickly. Today after class there was a free Bulgarian folk dance lesson which I stayed for. I have met with several colleagues at my school (The National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts) and from the National Art Academy. I have some work to do on my lectures and preparing my powerpoints for translation but won’t start teaching for a couple of weeks. Their semester is just getting started and there is much to arrange.

We went to see Much Ado about Nothing in Bulgarian last Friday night. It was an excellent production at the Bulgarian Army Theatre.  According to a colleague here, during communist times this theatre was well funded by the army, had lots of star actors and performed for the troops as well as the general public. Now it is funded by ticket sales (about 60%) and the Ministry of Culture. On Saturday I’ll go there again to see a french farce and next week Gozzi’s Princess Turandot at Theatre Sofia. Lot’s of culture here.

Last Saturday we joined a group of about 15 other Fulbrighters for a trip to Rozhen Monastery and Melnik, a tiny town known for red wine production. It was great to see some old friends from last summer’s program and meet a few new ones too. 

February 2nd

     On Saturday we took a taxi to PRAKTIKER, the Bulgarian “Home Depot” and bought a coffee maker and some other household items. We bought a big squeegee for the bathroom as there is no actual shower stall. In typical local fashion, the whole room is tile with a drain in the center and it is ALL the shower. I had to have a way to dry the walls and floor quickly. Hence the squeegee. There were lots of choices so I guess others share my desire for a dry bathroom. They had only one choice of coffee maker and it makes 4 cups (or 2 mugs). As you can imagine we make about 3 pots each time, one after the other. We also got our cell phones set up with Bulgarian service and bought some groceries. There are so many kinds of plain yogurt that we bought 3 different brands with different fat contents from 1.5 – 3.6%, just to see which we like best. Bulgarians are known for their yogurt, in fact I think the scientific name for yogurt culture has the word “bulgarian” in it.

    

     Today our landlord took us to register with the police as is required for foreigners, got our internet service installed, learned how to take the bus, and met a friend of a friend who is a professional set designer and professor of art (at a different school from where I will be teaching). Some apartment pictures taken by the previous tenant are attached. We don’t have so much snow now but the view out the window is still nice.

     The language is really difficult. I am so slow recognizing the letters that it is hard to figure out what I am reading. On Feb. 9th I start a 3 week class in Intensive Bulgarian. That will surely help. Meanwhile we are practicing by ordering in restaurants and asking for help and advice wherever we go. I can order salad, bread, a cup of coffee, water, and a glass of wine. After that I need a menu in English and we point at what we want. Stan is much better with the Cyrillic alphabet because he had studied some Russian before. He is working very hard at learning on his own and does very well asking questions of cab drivers shop owners and so on. Everyone is really pretty nice and helpful.

     Yesterday we had dinner in a pizzeria. We had pizza with smoked chicken. When we ordered it the waitress asked if we wanted sauce and I said yes so she told me I would have to pick from the choices on the menu. She seemed to be pushing the garlic sauce but I couldn’t resist the mayonnaise & tomato. The other two choices were even stranger sounding but I can’t remember what they were. As it turns out the sauce comes on the side in a tiny pitcher. It wasn’t bad but we didn’t really use it either. The pizza was just the chicken and Bulgarian-style feta cheese which is fantastic. 

On Feb 1st

     We actually just got here on Friday, Jan. 30. All went very well travelling and we are here, installed in our apartment. Hopefully by tomorrow we will have internet capability at home. Right now I am in an internet cafe in downtown Sofia. It is upstairs from a Dunkin’ Donuts and a KFC. (How’s that for pervasive American culture). We however have been getting set up, exploring and eating in local restaurants. Trying our best to get by with our very limited Bulgarian. People are really pretty nice but not too much English in our neighborhood.