Doomed Souls
„It may be war or incurable disease, fatal love or the fall of a world, but there is always some tragic extremity with which Dimitar Dimov confronts his characters. When time is limited the senses are most acute, the days become as dense as a lifetime, and the tempo of the internal clock rises to crescendo. This doom compresses the destinies, it intensifies the meaning of existence and turns every moment into a culmination. There is a similar exultation of despair in Remark's novels.
The choice of the doomed in "First Lt. Benz" is to commit suicide with love, regardless of whether it is the body or the soul that perish in the process. And besides, "a single love is far from sufficient to the life it has left". And what might be more suitable than a tango to pick up from where words have become helpless.
The husky voice of the Argentinean tango and its steps - a stylised love act, were chosen by director Bina Haralampieva, composer Assen Avramov and choreographer Margarita Gradechlieva to mark the peak of "First Lt. Benz" - the latest performance at the Little City Theatre "Off the Channel". It is the only moment when the bodies speak - Benz (Vladimir Penev) and Elena Petrasheva (Irini Jambonas). The rest of the time they are separated by an almost materialised wall of lies, hypocrisy, social conventions. The only one who refuses to accept that is First Lt. Hirschfogel… Along with the coat of his character actor Yossif Surchadjiev has also put on his mask of a cynic, which though starts cracking with love for a cruel beauty and compassion for the next doomed person who has ended in the trap of her fatal charm.
This is the second time when "Off the Channel" takes the risk of juxtaposing two extremely strong actors - first in "Art" where Vladimir Penev was confronted with Atanass Atanassov, and now Penev again with Yossif Surchadjiev. And from the looks of it, this attempt too will be yet another success…
Yuri Dachev's stage adaptation is notable in many ways but to me its greatest achievement is that it has turned servant girl Silvi into one of the main personages. The eyes of Ilka Zafirova in this role take the story much further beyond the end of the novel. Every time she appears on stage there is a sense of tragedy about, several times exceeding the effects of an otherwise piquant intrigue. The broken lines she speaks mixing Greek, Turkish and Bulgarian from the Pirin region spread the aroma of tobacco, of oregano and doom throughout the hall."
Anelia Yaneva
"Kapital"
issue 41, Oct. '02