LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

After Nikolai Erdman's

National Thearte of Macedonia, Skopje, Macedonia

Director: Alexander Morfov

Performed in Macedonian, with Hungarian and English subtitles

3 hours 10 minutes with 1 breaks.

Russia in the 1920s. New forms of fear are emerging in a new society. Semyon Semyonich Podsekalnikov is a miserable, unemployed man, humiliated repeatedly. He is so desperate that he decides to commit suicide, ignoring the pleas of his wife and mother-in-law. News of his plans spreads, and it turns out that each and every segment of this new society is interested in this suicide. They all come to visit, one by one, all the people whose fates would change if a stranger’s death were to redeem them: the intellectual, the populist, the disillusioned woman, the priest, the butcher … Would it really be elevating to take on, in the name of so many, this act of martyrdom, which is becoming more and more impersonal? In the eleventh hour, Podsekalnikov gets drunk, a stylish move that is something of a national custom, and this inevitably changes the course of events … The play deals with the issue of social responsibility, both encouraging philosophical reflection and making the audience laugh. The gleefulness of tragedy has always been an important part of the survival strategies of the people of Eastern Europe, claims Bulgarian director Alexander, who believes that, regardless of age or geographical location, a life lived for others is worth much more than a life thrown away.

Casts:

Nikola Ristanovsky, Nikolina Kujacha, Biljana Dragicevic-Projkovska, Sashko Kocev, Tanya Kochovska, Emil Ruben, Gorast Tsvetkovsky, Slavisha Kajevsky, Nikola Acesky, Alexander Giorgiosky, Arna Shijak, Tina Trpkoska, Alexander Mikik, Nikola Stefanov, Kire Giorevsky, Alexander Mihajlovsky, Maria Novak, Dragana Levenska, Nikola Kimovsky, Maria Dimitrova, Anastazia Hristovska, Sonya Krstevska

Orchestra: "Limber-up!": Olgica Zdravskovska (violin), Idaet Sejfulov (clarinet), Voiche Petrushev (harmonica), Dejan Mitrovich (doublebass), Nikola Kimovsky (percussions)

Stage adaptation and director: Alexander Morfov
Dramaturg and translator: Zagorka Pop-antoska Andovska
Set designer: Nikola Toromanov
Costumes: Maria Pupuchevska
Choreographer: Inga Krasovska
Delegated producer: Viktor Ruben
Music: Alexander Morfov
Musical arrangements: Darko Ilievsky
Poster: Srgan Janikijevik
Photographer: Robert Jankulovsky
Light designer: Darko Mladenovsky
Video: Filip Petrovsky, Kuzman Klekovsky

Director

Alexander Morfov

Main Stage

Alexander Morfov

Born in the city of Yambol in Bulgaria in 1960, Alexander Morfov graduated as a theatre and puppet theatre director from Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia in 1990. Between 1994 and 2000, while he was serving as the principal director of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre in Sofia, he succeeded in winning over the younger generation, who started to frequent the Theatre. He regularly directs performances in Russia, and many of his stage productions having been nominated for and have won awards in the Golden Mask, the Russian National Performing Arts Festival. After working as the principal director of the Vera Komissarzhevskaya Theatre in Saint Petersburg between 2003 and 2006, he returned to the Ivan Vazov National Theatre in 2006 as its principal director. In 2015, he was appointed managing director, but after a short period he became the principal director again. His performances have been presented in various international theatre festivals, for instance in Vienna, Casablanca, Kiev, Toruń, Belgrade, Wrocław, Hamburg, and Budapest, while in recent years he has directed performances in countries as culturally diverse as France, Sweden, Israel, Romania, Latvia, and Macedonia. As someone who is involved in the film industry, Morfov is noted both as an influential film director and a scriptwriter, and he regularly works as a film actor.

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