The principle of a new professional theatre was decided in Sofia, in 1956:the State Theatre of Satire. Founded in 1957, its aim was to promote comedy and satire. For obvious reasons, party politics could not have allowed its creation earlier in years when satire was not considered serious enough; but in the late 1950s official aesthetics was beginning to crumble.

The playwright Konstantin Iliev (b. 1937) states: ‘The theatre, in its origins, is an art form recreating human relationships and, certainly, the most human means of communication is language. The colour red, for example, influences both the bull and the spectator in a specific manner but the word “blood” leaves the animal indifferent.’ Indeed language in each of Iliev's plays has a special function, both constructive and opening up the richness of human characters into their multiple parts. Iliev's plays are exploring the tangle of human relations, almost with a scientific method of analysis, man's ‘disease’ and his life, man and his surrounding world.

Over the last forty years, Bulgarian drama has displayed a remarkable variety, reflecting recent political changes. Most playwrights write poetry as well as plays, which may account for the metaphorical quality of a great proportion of contemporary Bulgarian drama. Their talents have blossomed in a wealth of productions dealing with topical issues and concerns, deeply rooted in the country's cultural traditions and way of life. In the following, non-exhaustive, survey, we shall try to present that variety through brief vignettes of those playwrights most familiar to a Bulgarian audience.

Over the last few years—which for Bulgaria were years of great political, social and psychological change, related to the disintegration of ideological systems and conventions, and to the destruction of established social and theatrical structures—the very term ‘Bulgarian drama’ seemed entirely missing from the theatre practice of the country. In the new theatre system that emerged from this period of change there was a dearth of new Bulgarian plays.

Bulgarian radio drama first appeared in 1945, broadcasting live from the national studios. The immediate postwar years were difficult throughout the country, both in economic and political terms. The socialist revolution and takeover, on 9 September 1944, soon imposed strict criteria on dramatic creation and artistic achievement, presumably on world standards. Radio drama, as one of the key instruments in the new national, revolutionary symphony, could not but play in general harmony. It naturally developed according to patterns governed by the political authorities. It contributed to programmes devoted to promote conflict, action, heroes, virtues abounding in the young socialist doctrine. Russian plays and novels were selected and broadcast as master keys in the opening of popular minds to the new philosophy. Broadcasting slots allowed some room for the production of the emerging Bulgarian literature of the late nineteenth century. Plays and playwrights from other parts of the world remained ignored by those in power and, as a consequence, by the production teams and the general audience.

The art of directing has undergone great changes in Bulgaria over the last forty years. New trends appeared in the 1960s with the Theatre of Burgas, whose influence is felt to this day. Two generations are working alongside each other, and the younger directors are becoming more and more influential as the role of the director has gained increasing importance over the last few years, with the development of experimental theatre and the techniques of collage.

The first signs heralding the birth of the Bulgarian theatre date from the middle of the nineteenth century. The first people to put on plays and dramas written for special celebrations were amateurs, schoolmasters as well as other representatives of the Bulgarian intelligentsia, who would gather in their spare time. They may be considered as the first witnesses of the awakening of a national Bulgarian self-consciousness during the years of Ottoman power.

Primarily a melting-pot of influences and techniques, the rapid development of the Bulgarian puppet theatre into a series of achievements, over a relatively short period of time, may be regarded as archetypal of the enthusiastic quest of a young nation for new artistic modes of expression. An imaginative, vital flexibility characterizes this pervasive art form, aimed at children and adults alike, with its twenty professional companies across the country at the beginning of the 1990s.

Over the last three years there has been much talk about a reform of the theatres in Bulgaria, following the 1997 governmental changes which had a real impact on cultural policies. It has seemed interesting for the purposes of this survey to contrast the points of view of a representative of the Ministry of Culture, Stefan Yankov, and of the Deputy Secretary of the Union of Bulgarian Artists, Alexander Jekov.