Чешкият режисьор Йозеф Шмаха или как българският театър гради европейски авторитет
Czech director Jozef Smaha and the first steps of Bulgarian theater establishing European recognition

Summary/Abstract: The article follows the attempts of Bulgaria’s intellectuals of the last decades of the 19th century to attract a foreigner theatre specialist to organize a correctly functioning theater mechanism with all its necessary attributes. These are repertoire, actors and supporting team, a stage and working regimen. The article seeks for and finds the reasons in the decision that the finding of respected professional in the theatrical field might be achieved my some foreign support. The Bulgarian theater is getting more and more professional and rises up the level to the good practices of the European theater. But the attempts to find a director and organizer for the first state-owned theatre group in Sofia were restricted to countries with predominantly Slavonic population. Probably because of the geographical closeness and the similarity in mentality, Sofia hosts two Croatians one after the other – Adam Manrovich and Sergian Tucich. Next, the position of artistic director of the newly established National Theater in Sofia was taken by the Czech Jozef Smaha. He directed the shows and organized the theatrical life of the National Theater in the first three years of the group’s presence in the newly constructed building. He succeeded in turning the non-professional theater into a really professional team. The second topic discussed in the article refers to the critical attitude of the theater experts who supervise Smaha’s work. The possible answer is in the discrepancy between the classic style of the Czech director and the art expectations and interests of the younger acting generation.

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