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The Vampire: The Elements of Destruction

Summary/Abstract: In 2021, the 120th anniversary was marked since the drama The Vampire was composed by Anton Strashimirov. It has been a permanent fixture on the bills of Bulgarian theatres ever since then, becoming an integral part of the classics of Bulgarian playwriting. This analysis of The Vampire seeks to find the universal dimensions to Strashimirov’s text that has been traditionally put on as a domestic, folk or social drama. Still, it was the first Bulgarian play delving into the depths of the subconscious. This is why it can be safely said that it belongs to modern Bulgarian drama together with the plays by P. Todorov and P. Yavorov. The character of the vampire is of a romantic origin, belonging not to the symbolic type of the modern project of the world order. Still, very much like Masons by Petko Todorov it calls for an allegorical reading: the vampire is man’s subconscious compulsion to destruct. Could The Vampire be successfully staged nowadays referring solely to the patriarchal morality and the social mores of bygone times? Starting from the poetics of drama, we should see that this text is like a well leading to remote cultural layers of the life of Balkan people, and perhaps to the entire Mediterranean littoral too, as well as to the primordial elements in man, when the compulsion to destruct gains the upper hand over the instinct for continuing the life cycle.

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