Сценографията в Народния театър в периода 1948-1956 г. Нормативна естетика и индивидуален стил
National Theatre’s stage design in 1948–1956. Normative aesthetic and individual manners

Summary/Abstract: This article seeks to present the changes in the oeuvres of the first generation of stage designers working in the wake of the communist coup of 1944. It was the National Theatre where a number of renowned painters took to visually designing theatrical productions. Bulgarian stage practices suggest that pioneers of scenography were mostly painters. Some of them developed their enthusiasm for this new to them genre into their main activity and a mission in their capacity as artists. To others, the endeavour was just an experiment and curious experience. The communist coup of 1944 called for reconsidering the established visual styles of a theatrical production. Socialist Realism was the method stage designers had to conform to in their work both for the stage and beyond. In the first several years in the wake of the coup, theatrical productions of the National Theatre still preserved some elements of the former aesthetic, while following 1948, the individual manners of artists were made uniform. New authorities succeeded in cracking down on the remnants of the avant-garde movements that have influenced the artists, by establishing the Committee for Science, Arts and Culture (CSAC), the agenda in arts of which was pursed mostly by the Union of Bulgarian Artists. A number of artists, writers, musicians, actors and intellectuals faced the dilemma whether or not to collaborate with the authorities to carry out the experiment called ‘the method of Socialist Realism’. The article presents stage designers Ivan Penkov, Asen Popov, Evgeny Vashchenko, Georgi Karakashev and Alexamder Milenkov.

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