Theatre
Зидари
Not translated into English
Petko Todorov · 1902
Opening lines
По-старият селянин
От нас малко, от бога повече.
A little from us, more from God.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from chitanka.info
Synopsis
The Masons: in a small Balkan village, in the time of the kirdjali bands, the masons build a church that the Turks order them to finish in forty days. Hristo, proud and idealistic, dreams of a church that rises to the sky and gathers the young people to defend the village; Doncho, his rival for Rada, Hristo's fiancée, stands aside out of pride. The masons lose heart, and one of them recalls the old custom that requires a life to be walled up in the foundations.
Context
Written in Munich in 1899 according to Dina Mantcheva, the play appeared in 1902 and existed in two versions, which differ in their stage directions. It takes up the popular legend of the young woman walled up in the foundations of a building, but reverses its meaning: the half-buried church, of which only the cross protrudes, becomes both temple and tomb, and most of the masons remain nameless. The archaic language makes the play difficult to stage; the Kardzhali theatre and music centre nevertheless revived it in 2021.
Who it is for
A play whose language imitates the speech of the villages and calls for some attention; no French or English translation has been found.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the first modern drama written in Bulgarian, and still performed by the country's theatres.