MISSION
To make our young and elder spectators happy with art that inspires.
WHO ARE WE
Quality entertainment for children and young spectators – a truly professional approach and 70 years of excellent art.
ARTISTIC PROFILE
The theatre’s artistic production has explored every genre and style from puppet miniature through music stories, pantomime, theatre of shadows, comedy, satire and grotesque to the heroic epic performance.
The group of actors has played and maintains in its repertoire unforgettable classical works by Charles Perrault, Wilhelm Hauff, Hans Christian Andersen, Exupery, Pushkin, Boccaccio, Tostoy, Shakespeare, the Grimm Brothers, Goldoni, Moliere, as well as mane Bulgarian authors who have long been part of the child dramaturgy treasure like Valery Petrov, Yordan Radichkov, Rada Moskova, Boris Aprilov, Ivan Teofilov etc.
ACTIVITY
Every year the theatre has more than 20 titles in its repertoire, performs on stage more than 650 times and prepares up to 6 new performances every season, showing high quality theatre for children and adults with more than 65 000 spectators annually.
The actors enjoy the love and loyalty of their audience, together with numerous national and international awards, building a reputation of artistic and professional excellence.
STATUS AND STRUCTURE
On 23 May 2001 the internationally famous Central Puppet Theatre was renamed Sofia Puppet Theatre and became one of the cultural institutes of the Sofia Municipality. It is a repertoire theatre formation with a permanent group, technical and administrative staff, two stages (main on 14 Gurko Street and second on 19 Yanko Sakazov Street) and studios for production of puppets and scenery, as well as an equipped sound recording studio.
Founded in 1946 by Mara Penkova, who used her own meager resources to fund the troupe in those lean post-war years, the first Bulgarian puppet theater quickly succeeded in capturing the public’s attention. Only two years later, the troupe was awarded a state subsidy and became the first officially-recognized professional state theater in Bulgaria. Since its founding, the puppet theater has staged more than 300 plays.
The theater’s first international appearance took place in Bucharest in 1958, and only a mere two years later, the troupe received an award for “Originality and Imagination” at the Second Annual International Puppetry Festival in Bucharest for its adaptation of Sergey Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf”, directed by Atanas Ilkov and Nikolina Georgieva.
The 1960s were the theater’s golden era, characterized by highly successful performances that spread the theater’s reputation for high-caliber and wildly popular puppet productions throughout the world, from Cuba to the U.S. and Canada, and from Western Europe to as far away as Japan. For example, the theater’s productions of “King Marko” (1967) and “Pinocchio” (1968) were featured in Edinburgh’s prestigious theater festival; “The Watchmaker” (1965) was also noted for its striking visuals. Not limiting itself to children’s repertoire, the puppet theater also has performed classics from the general theatrical canon, such as “The Misanthrope” (1968), “The Decameron” (1972), “The Tempest” (1987), and “Macbeth” (1996). The theater’s adaptation of the cult classic “Ragazza” was sold-out weeks in advance of its opening. The theater also successfully staged the legendary shadow-puppet plays “Carnival of Animals” and “Pictures at an Exhibition” (1997). Finally, the theater is famous for the unflagging popularity of its “The Princess and the Pea”, which has had an unbelievably successful run of more than thirty years!
To date, the puppet theater has staged more than 300 different plays.
Base
Saloon Gurko
The theater moved into its location on General Gurko Street No. 14 in 1971. The space there consists of two lobbies, an auditorium, a sound and lighting booth, a state-of-the-art audio recording studio, and administrative offices.
The stage opening measures six meters wide by four metes high, with a fore-stage with a depth of three meters. The stage is equipped with gridiron, two moveable lighting bridges, seventy-two high-voltage power outlets, making it possible to use up to 140 lights.
Saloon Y.Sakazov
In 1959, the theater moved into the space on Boulevard “Yanko Sakuzov” 19, which is located immediately adjacent to Zaimov Park. The space consists of a foyer, an auditorium with 202 seats arranged in fifteen rows, and lighting and sound booths.
Workshop
Sofia Puppet Theater has three workshops – one for props, one for metalworking, and the third for woodworking. They are located in the theater’s main building at Boulevard “Yanko Sakuzov” No. 19 and are used to produce all the sets, puppets and props used in our performances.
The workshops are staffed by highly-qualified artists, sculptors, tailors, and technicians, who are able to make the scenographers’ ideas into reality.
