Zürcher Nachrichten - 'Anti-war' comedy directed by Malkovich riles Bulgarian nationalists

EUR -
AED 3.859481
AFN 71.756324
ALL 98.731551
AMD 410.573973
ANG 1.898343
AOA 958.299952
ARS 1057.5828
AUD 1.620305
AWG 1.891382
AZN 1.787514
BAM 1.965786
BBD 2.126704
BDT 125.86941
BGN 1.959578
BHD 0.396069
BIF 3111.577045
BMD 1.050768
BND 1.419397
BOB 7.30511
BRL 6.108936
BSD 1.053351
BTN 88.798959
BWP 14.389096
BYN 3.447011
BYR 20595.049833
BZD 2.123186
CAD 1.482918
CDF 3015.70356
CHF 0.930769
CLF 0.037175
CLP 1025.730425
CNY 7.626681
CNH 7.631617
COP 4607.354324
CRC 536.765442
CUC 1.050768
CUP 27.845348
CVE 110.825881
CZK 25.294035
DJF 187.56281
DKK 7.458928
DOP 63.475202
DZD 140.754561
EGP 52.127224
ERN 15.761518
ETB 131.339448
FJD 2.392545
FKP 0.829389
GBP 0.835949
GEL 2.868323
GGP 0.829389
GHS 16.589273
GIP 0.829389
GMD 74.604443
GNF 9077.02445
GTQ 8.133083
GYD 220.369466
HKD 8.177732
HNL 26.61696
HRK 7.495399
HTG 138.250992
HUF 410.051453
IDR 16731.48153
ILS 3.832965
IMP 0.829389
INR 88.571851
IQD 1379.809363
IRR 44224.189139
ISK 145.100113
JEP 0.829389
JMD 167.167612
JOD 0.745307
JPY 161.712177
KES 136.073015
KGS 91.195508
KHR 4227.434928
KMF 492.757542
KPW 945.690665
KRW 1469.37254
KWD 0.323384
KYD 0.877759
KZT 525.96186
LAK 23132.512015
LBP 94323.056453
LKR 306.507041
LRD 189.587683
LSL 19.044143
LTL 3.102644
LVL 0.635599
LYD 5.155188
MAD 10.582559
MDL 19.254813
MGA 4922.003534
MKD 61.670427
MMK 3412.852984
MNT 3570.509093
MOP 8.44098
MRU 41.88499
MUR 49.722097
MVR 16.234917
MWK 1826.47842
MXN 21.614084
MYR 4.693253
MZN 67.14173
NAD 19.044143
NGN 1768.579028
NIO 38.756512
NOK 11.690218
NPR 142.081414
NZD 1.79828
OMR 0.404533
PAB 1.053351
PEN 3.989366
PGK 4.24307
PHP 62.032083
PKR 292.554261
PLN 4.316456
PYG 8206.689576
QAR 3.842446
RON 4.977699
RSD 117.01459
RUB 110.961597
RWF 1438.192258
SAR 3.946062
SBD 8.816563
SCR 14.31215
SDG 632.036594
SEK 11.54187
SGD 1.415316
SHP 0.829389
SLE 23.854978
SLL 22034.081378
SOS 601.952158
SRD 37.295921
STD 21748.772974
SVC 9.216821
SYP 2640.085594
SZL 19.038716
THB 36.517315
TJS 11.227816
TMT 3.688195
TND 3.340977
TOP 2.461006
TRY 36.403794
TTD 7.154344
TWD 34.123163
TZS 2784.535199
UAH 43.712558
UGX 3902.826164
USD 1.050768
UYU 44.896792
UZS 13512.64356
VES 48.945141
VND 26707.891792
VUV 124.74927
WST 2.933314
XAF 659.299937
XAG 0.034685
XAU 0.000402
XCD 2.839753
XDR 0.805693
XOF 659.306243
XPF 119.331742
YER 262.61318
ZAR 19.049477
ZMK 9458.171236
ZMW 29.044545
ZWL 338.346819
  • CMSC

    0.0578

    24.73

    +0.23%

  • RBGPF

    0.8100

    61

    +1.33%

  • RELX

    -0.1800

    46.57

    -0.39%

  • VOD

    0.1800

    8.91

    +2.02%

  • NGG

    0.1500

    63.26

    +0.24%

  • AZN

    0.7700

    66.4

    +1.16%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    6.79

    +0.29%

  • GSK

    0.1900

    34.15

    +0.56%

  • RIO

    0.6300

    62.98

    +1%

  • JRI

    0.1600

    13.37

    +1.2%

  • BTI

    -0.0500

    37.33

    -0.13%

  • CMSD

    0.1200

    24.58

    +0.49%

  • SCS

    0.4500

    13.72

    +3.28%

  • BCE

    0.2500

    27.02

    +0.93%

  • BCC

    8.7200

    152.5

    +5.72%

  • BP

    -0.4000

    29.32

    -1.36%

'Anti-war' comedy directed by Malkovich riles Bulgarian nationalists
'Anti-war' comedy directed by Malkovich riles Bulgarian nationalists / Photo: DIMITAR KYOSEMARLIEV - AFP

'Anti-war' comedy directed by Malkovich riles Bulgarian nationalists

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.

Text size:

Last week's premiere of "Arms and the Man" by renowned Irish-born playwright George Bernard Shaw sparked raucous protests by nationalist groups.

Holding up banners that read "Malkovich go home", protesters blocked access to the Ivan Vazov National Theatre in the capital Sofia on Thursday before attempting to storm it, accusing the 70-year-old director of ridiculing the country's history and its citizens.

"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 theatre, 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.

Brandishing Bulgarian flags, a mob of angry protesters verbally and physically assaulted the director of the theatre and the former culture minister among others.

The prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into the clashes.

- 'Get attention' -

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 told AFP 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".

- 'Obstructing freedom of expression'

Bulgaria, the EU's poorest nation, has been plagued by political turmoil since 2021, which has favoured the country's far right amid a surge in pro-Russian disinformation campaigns, according to NGOs in the country.

For the pro-Russian, ultra-nationalist 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, criticising 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 told AFP.

Nikolay Hristov, a 66-year-old architect who saw the comedy with his wife on Friday, said there was "nothing anti-Bulgarian" about the "fun" play, adding it was "more about love, lies and misunderstood honour".

The European Association of Independent Performing Arts (EAIPA) condemned "the outright obstruction of the freedom of artistic expression" by "far-right activists, on the pretext that it mocked Bulgarian national pride".

"The rise of hatred and aggression in Europe is a direct provocation to essential human rights," it said.

Y.Keller--NZN