The Cockpit
6th November at 7pm
7th November at 9pm
Quick introduction to your production, venue and performance times.
Legend of Kaliakra reimagines the story of forty maidens who braided their hair into one and jumped into the Black Sea off the cliffs of cape Kaliakra to preserve their dignity and freedom during the Ottoman Empire rule in Bulgaria. The show uses poetic text, light and music to recreate an underwater environment, a place between two realms the maidens need to overcome.
We will be performing at The Cockpit on the 6th November at 7pm and 7th November at 9pm.
What inspired you to start making or performing theatre?
The collective is made of four actresses who met at the National Academy for Film and Theatre in Sofia, Bulgaria, and wanted to work together on a powerful female-led play. What inspires us every day is the need for art and culture as food for the soul, especially in times of global instability. The devising method isn’t as popular in Bulgaria, and so it was a real challenge to find someone who knows how to work with it. It was a real pleasure for us, the actresses, to dig into our own imagination and offer something from a writer performer point of view.
Have you taken this production anywhere before? How was it received by the audience?
This is our first ever international premiere, and we are beyond excited it is going to be in London! We have performed the play since 2024 in Bulgaria and have toured the Black Sea coast. Our dream is one day to perform at Cape Kaliakea with a larger ensemble of 40 women. Since there are plenty of Bulgarians spread across the world, we would love to continue our international visits, perhaps Europe.
Why did choose to perform at the Voila Festival?
We met one of our co-producer, Margarita George, who lives in London, at an actor’s masterclass and got talking about the potential to perform in London. She suggested that to keep the authenticity of the play, we should find a way to perform in Bulgarian and suggested Voila! is the perfect platform to open up the performance to an international audience as well as the Bulgarian diaspora. This happened in March, right before the submissions in April, and so we decided to go for it!
Has there been anyone in your life who has inspired you to work in the theatre?
It has mostly been our teachers from the academy, directors such as Elitsa Yovcheva and writers such as Mirela Ivanova whose poetic text is woven into the play. Our female inspirations have a massive impact on this play as there are not many all-female actor collectives in Bulgaria. This is why we feel there is a responsibility in our work to do justice to the legend just as much as all female identifying artists in Bulgarian.
How long have you been working on this particular production?
We have over 56 performances behind us in Bulgaria, and our current home theatre is Theatre O3 in Sofia. In Bulgaria, the tradition is to have repertoire theatre companies in each theatre, and so our collective performs the show every month at this theatre. In fact we have a show a week before our first night as part of Voila!.
Do you have anything that you are planning on seeing while you are at the Voila Festival?
Yes! We are here for a good three weeks and will aim to see plenty of them! Our plan includes going to see ‘My mother tongue wants to disown me’, ‘Chop-chop’ and ‘The sound if butterflies’.
What would you like audiences to take away from your production?
We want them to see how universally human the topics of the play are. The struggles of those women, the difficult choices they make, and the strength to find forgiveness at a time where the future of the Bulgarian roots were practically doomed are themes that don’t respect borders. They are prevalent in today’s ever globalising world, and we need to fiercly protect those to truly celebrate diversity and inclusion. Something Voila! festival has been perfect for the past 12 years!
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