The Elevator

Director: Yosif Sarchadjiev Set designer: Nadya Vasileva-Kovachovska Composer: Kamen Nikolov Cast: Yanislava Linkova, Gyorgi Traykov

The play The Elevator by the writer-dissident Georgi Markov was written in 1967. It is a work from the period when he lived and created in socialist Bulgaria. But everything changed in 1969 — he left for the West in exile, and in 1978 he was murdered in London.

His work was banned in Bulgaria, and his name was erased. That is why the play The Elevator, in which the then-young Yosif Sarchadjiev took part, was also taken off rehearsals. Fifty-five years later, he returns to the text as a director. Here is what he remembers:

"It was 1969. At theater school, for our final state exam, we were staging Georgi Markov’s play The Elevator. The director was my teacher Apostol Karamitev. We worked on this love drama with enormous pleasure. It secretly showed how the communist regime crushes the souls of the characters. Good heavens, it was exactly then that Georgi Markov fled Bulgaria. My teacher was called to the rector’s office. There were party Central Committee officials there. We waited for about an hour. He came back, sweating, but smiling, and said: 'What fools they are. They stopped us. Know this: if the devil praises you but does not stab you with his horns, it means you have surrendered. Don’t be afraid, years will pass and the elevator will work...' For you now, The Elevator is flying!"

Dear audience, enjoy the flight of the heroes — two young souls searching for happiness, even though they are trapped in the elevator. Because sooner or later, the door opens!