The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria

“This is a story of morality in politics, of people’s love and political games played in the shadows.”

- Ambassador Marin Raykov

PRESS AND AWARDS INCLUDE

WINNER - VAULT Festival origins award 2020

“This company has definitely honed its style of storytelling.” ★★★★★ - Mind The Blog

“Verve and bittersweet comic flair.” ★★★★★ - Fringe Guru

“Politics [is] theatre and theatre is politics.” ★★★★★ - Broadway World

“A finely tuned ensemble, they turn a complex episode of European history into an in irresistible piece of theatre.” ★★★★★ - British Theatre Dot Com

“If Armando Ianucci made a Kneehigh musical.” - Our mate Dave

With thanks to The Bulgarian Embassy in London, Dessi Stefanova of the London Bulgarian Choir, Arts Council England, Riverside Studios, Regents Park University, Kyril of Saxe-Coburg & Katharine Butler, Joseph Prowen, Kara Taylor Alberts, Aydan Wilder, Geargin Wilson, Christina Gelev, Françoise Davis, Rosie Bauer, Helen Gilbert, Paul Gilbert, Louise & Matt Phillips, Zdravka Momcheva, Wassil Rascheeff, Steve Dykes and Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, Althea Theatre & Debra Hauer who brought Hannah to synagogue as a young child and opened the door to her love of Judaism!

Production Team

The Ones who brought the story to life

WRITER AND ENSEMBLE (Queen Giovanna/Theodore Dannecker/Liliana Panitsa) - SASHA WILSON

Sasha is a Bulgarian-American LAMDA-trained actor. Her recent credits include Noises Off (Beck Center for the Arts), The Last Starfighter (Blank Canvas Theater), The Mechanicals Present: Julius Caesar or Macbeth (Play Nicely Theatre UK Tour), The Tempest (Shakespeare in the Squares), and Julius Caesar (V&A). Winner of Broadway World Award "Best Actress in a Play” for Romeo and Juliet (Southwest Shakespeare Company) 2018. She co-founded Out Of The Forest Theatre in 2017. For the company, she has appeared in Bury The Hatchet (UK & US Tour), Call Me Fury (Vault, North Wall & The Hope Theatre) and Louisa & Jo (& Me) (Golden Goose). Say hi on Instagram!

WRITER AND ENSEMBLE (Boris III) - JOseph CULLEN

Joseph Cullen is a theatremaker and human from South Somerset, with West Country rural farming roots and a strong belief that art is for everyone and there is no ‘right’ way to make theatre. Joe’s love for theatre came from a childhood of small village am-dram pantos and variety shows, and as a teenager, Trevor Peacock (Vicar of Dibley) told him: ‘it’s better to be a professional amateur than an amateur professional’, and Joe is a proud and committed professional amateur.

He has worked as a performer on a variety of shows, including the Olivier-nominated ‘Alice’s Adventures Underground’ with Les Enfants Terribles,‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘The Three Musketeers’, but is most proud of the professional / community-blended work made in Somerset with Wassail Theatre.

He co-founded Out Of The Forest Theatre and 6 years later is delighted to have a multi-award winning show at The Pleasance Theatre - he is very proud of the work the company have achieved so far, and is excited to continue developing this incredible story about Bulgaria, and to continue making Anglo-Bulgarian/American work with collaborator Sasha Wilson.

DIRECTOR AND DRAMATURG- HANNAH HAUER-KING

Hannah is a director and dramaturg, with a focus on new writing, and work centred around the queer and/or female experience. She is Artistic Director of theater company Damsel Productions, who recently co-produced sell-out show The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs at Soho Theatre, and award nominated and hit show The Swell, both of which she directed. As Director: The Swell, Orange Tree Theatre; The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs, Fabric, Fury, Soho Theatre; The Funeral Director, Southwark Playhouse/ETT UK tour; The Amber Trap, Theatre 503; Grotty, Bunker Theatre, Dry Land, Jermyn Street Theatre. Associate/Assistant directing credits include: The Wife of Willesden, Kiln Theatre, Brookly Academy of Music & American Repertory Theatre; Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare’s Globe; Daytona, Park Theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket; Radiant Vermin, Soho Theatre.

Ensemble (Bogdan Filov) - LAURENCE BOOTHMAN

Lawrence holds an MA in Acting from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, thanks to an RCS Scholarship and the John Mather Trust Award. His stage credits include: Julius Caesar (Scottish Tour) and Arthur Miller’s Incident At Vichy (Finborough Theatre).

ENSEMBLE (Petur Gabrovski/Anka lazarov) - CLARE FRAEnKEL

Clare studied English at Bristol University, then trained as an actor at Drama Studio London. Her self-written play I Was A German has been nominated for an OffWestEnd Award for Performance Piece, after a successful run at this year’s VAULT Festival in London.

Theatre includes: I Was A German (VAULT Festival), Hansel and Gretel (Proteus Theatre/ Scratchbuilt), Chester Tuffnut (Polka Theatre), Against Democracy (Arcola Theatre), Too Many Penguins (Polka Theatre), The Ones Who Kill Shooting Stars (White Bear Theatre), The Girl with The Iron Claws (Wrong Crowd Theatre/ Soho Theatre), The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Nuffield Theatre Southampton / Forest Forge), Rough Music (Kings Head Theatre), The Borrowers (Haymarket Basingstoke), The Importance of Being Earnest and The Taming of the Shrew (Oxford Shakespeare Company), The Rivals (Theatre Royal Bath).

Screen work includes This Is Going to Hurt (BBC), Magic Mike's Last Dance (dir. Steven Soderbergh), Ghost Stories (Netflix).

Other work includes voicing the cult fan favourite character Tessa Bannister in video game Star Citizen.

ENSEMBLE (Alexander belev/metropolitan stefan/advisor number 3)- DAVID LEOPoLD

David trained at LAMDA. Upon graduating, David was selected for the Graduate Actors Scheme at the Leeds Playhouse. Theatre credits include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare in the Squares), Late Company (Trafalgar Studios/ Finborough Theatre); Soho Young Playwrights (Soho Theatre); Muted (The Bunker Theatre); Burnt Part Boys (Park Theatre); Little Sure Shot (The Egg Theatre, Bath); Uncle Vanya (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Polar Bears (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and The Crucible (West Yorkshire Playhouse). For the company; Louisa, Jo (& Me) (Golden Goose) The Brief Life and Mysterious Death Of Boris III; King of Bulgaria (VAULT Festival) Off West End Award Winner for Best Ensemble Bury The Hatchet (Hope Theatre)

He is also a singer/songwriter who has recently played the 02 Academy Islington, London. Listen to his EP Lost on Abbottswood on Spotify

LIGHTING DESIGNER- WILL AldER

Will enjoys a busy career Lighting Designer and Producer. Previous work with companies such as the Barbican, Oxford Playhouse, the Royal Opera House, Southbank Centre, National Youth Theatre, in London’s West End, and on tour nationally and internationally. Recent designs include: Gabriel at Barbican Concert Hall (The Globe/Barbican/English Concert), Gigi Star (Prentice Productions), Clownhearted (VAULT Festival) and a number of shows with the wonderful Out of the Forest Theatre. In 2022 he renovated the Passmore Edwards Building in Newham, turning it into a theatre and arts space for Applecart Arts, where he is Producer. For more: www.williamalder.co.uk

PRODUCER- CLARE GILBERT

Claire is an international theatre producer who makes art for social change. Alongside producing for Off West End Award winning Out Of The Forest Theatre ((Louisa & Jo (&Me), The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III, King of Bulgaria, Call Me Fury, Bury the Hatchet) She produces and co-runs political company British-Romanian BÉZNĂ Theatre (How To Break Out Of A Detention Centre, wipe these tears, The People’s Tribunal on Crimes of Aggression Afghanistan Sessions, ILLEGALISED) and runs Claire Gilbert Ltd (In Her Strength, The Axiom of Choice). She works for Lora Krasteva to deliver Becoming; a series of multi art from residencies in UK, Czech Republic, Germany & Romania and has also produced for companies including Cardboard Citizens, Deafinitely Theatre & Wayward Productions. Before becoming a freelance producer she worked with venues including National Theatre, Royal Court & Barbican Centre for Complicité.

She is a Stage One supported producer and proud Essex Girl.

music consultant- Dessi Stefanova

Dessislava Stefanova has been performing and teaching the distinctive choral music of Bulgaria in the UK since her arrival here in 2000. An experienced conductor, soloist and ensemble singer, Dessi has also established a career singing for film soundtracks, theatre and working with artists who need the authentic sound of her homeland.

Dessi started western classical music training at the age of six, but found an alternative to the formality of communist-style musical education in the Childrenís Folk Music and Dance Company Zagorche, based in her home town of Stara Zagora. With this acclaimed troupe, she toured all over Europe and experimented in theatre and improvisation. After leaving Stara Zagora to study linguistics at Sofia University, Dessi successfully auditioned for the world-famous Philip Koutev National Folk Music and Dance Ensemble, and continued her career as a professional singer with the ensemble until leaving for the UK.

She arrived in London in July 2000 to find a keen audience for her thrilling and evocative vocal style - and an eager community of would-be Bulgarian singers. The popularity of her workshops rapidly led her to form the London Bulgarian Choir, and she continues to lead the choir from strength to strength.

In 2008, Dessi was awarded an MMus with Distinction in Music and Performance from SOAS (The School of Oriental and African Studies, part of the University of London).

stage manager- maddie whiffin

Maddie has been a professional Stage Manager for over eight years and is delighted to be joining Out of the Forest Theatre after working alongside them at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Previous credits include Venue Manager of Pleasance Queen Dome at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Technical Stage Manager of Trades Hall Meeting Room at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival,Teechers ‘22(TSM, Blackeyed Theatre, UK tour),Robin Hood(CSM, Greenwich Theatre),The Permanent Way(SM, The Shaw Theatre),Aladdin(DSM, Wilde Theatre), Bi Pride UK Main Stage (SM, Round Chapel Clapton),Grimm Tales(DSM, Wilde Theatre),My Brothers’ Keeper(Designer, The Playground Theatre),Dick Whittington(DSM, Wilde Theatre),Teechers(TSM, Blackeyed Theatre UK tour),Beauty & the Beast(DSM, Wilde Theatre).

Costume designer - Helen Stewart

Helen Stewart is a costume designer and professional fairy godmother. She spends the summer designing costumes for theatre and opera, and the winters making period costumes. She trained at Angles and the Northern College of Costume. Her CV includes glamorous employers like the American Shakespeare Theatre, Glyndebourne, and Apple TV. If you want her she will be back stage mending things.

Set designer- sorcha corcoran

Sorcha is a five time Offie nominated set and costume designer. Recent credits include Lear (The Hope Mills Theatre), Papercut (Park Theatre), Variation and Buckets (The Egg Theatre Bath), Hamlet (The Southwark Playhouse), Agrippina (Hampstead Garden Opera), Closure (HOME), Dr Faustus (The Southwark Playhouse), Her Naked Skin (Rose Bruford College), Grandad Anansi (The Halfmoon Theatre Edward II, (Lazarus Theatre), The Replacement Child, (The Hope Mills Theatre), Baby Box, York Theatre Royal, Jew-ish! Kings Head Theatre, No Strings Attached, (Kings Head Theatre), Guilty Secret, Dear Lupin, Table Manners, Round and Round the Garden, (FrintonSummer Theatre), Salome (Southwark Playhouse), Fever Pitch (Hope Theatre), How To Find Your Name (English Touring Opera), Khojaly (The Union Theatre), Vagina Cake (The Hope Mills Theatre).

Production assistant - Lorra videv

Lorra is Bulgarian/Canadian and has been on board with Out of The Forest Theatre's new play from the early development stages. She is the Production Assistant, Bulgarian translator and cultural consultant for The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris iii, King of Bulgaria.

Having graduated from a BA Drama and Performance Course at Southbank University and a MA Arts and Cultural Management course at King's College London, her performance and business background have made her able to both work within production and as a performer. She has managed her own theatre company called 'Overload Theatre' and taken work to London Fringe Festivals.

Lorra is also a stand up comedian, and a junior film producer. She is a semi-finalist in the SYTYF competition, and has been on the production end for commercial and Longform films in Bulgaria and the United Kingdom. She currently works full-time for Madam films and this fall she will be one of 12 young producers on the the 2023/24 Atelier Ludwigsburg Paris programme for European cinema professionals

Book tickets to her So You Think You’re Funny Heat 7 on Tues Aug 15th!

The Real Story

the story off the stage

April 1876: First revolt of Bulgarians against Ottoman presence.

1887-1878: The Treaty of San Stefano, ending the Russo-Turkish War, provides for the establishment of an autonomous Principality of Bulgaria.

August 2, 1887: Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, who came from Vienna, becomes prince of Bulgaria.

1896: The Young Prince Boris is baptised Eastern Orthodox; Russia then recognises Prince Ferdinand on February 2nd.

1908: Proclamation of the independence of the ‘Kingdom of Bulgaria’ by Ferdinand I.

1918: King Ferdinand abdicates after WWI. His oldest son becomes King Boris III.

October 25, 1930: Marriage of King Boris and Princess Giovanna of Italy in Assisi, Italy. Mussolini is in attendance.

June 16, 1937: Birth of Simeon in Sofia. All students are granted extra marks* and many convicts are granted amnesty in honour of his birth. (Including Sasha’s O’papa, who at the time was failing school and as a result of this fortuitous turn of events, was able to graduate! After fleeing Bulgaria on the eve of war and being forced to live in an internment camp in Trieste, Italy until the 1950’s, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio in the United States and ultimately wound up working at Case Western Reserve University. He passed away on October 24, 2022 just days shy of his 101st birthday.)

August 9, 1943: Ambassador Beckerle requests an urgent audience with the king to meet Adolf Hitler. They were due to travel on that Friday, which Boris’s junior secretary Stanislav Balan realised was Friday the 13th. In a later interview, Balan recounts that Boris replied: “I made a mistake. I did something foolish that I shouldn’t have done and now you must help me get out of it. I do not travel on Friday the Thirteenth. On Friday the Thirteenth, je ne fonctionne pas! (I do not function!)”

August 14, 1943: Boris III is collected by Hitler’s pilot Hans Bauer and flown to ‘The Wolf’s Lair,’ Hitler’s military headquarters in Rastenburg. The negotiations lasted most of the day and into the next. Aides were present, but then Hitler and Boris took lunch alone. They emerged from Hitler’s quarters “tremendously upset - tense and angry.” Boris’ sister wrote in a letter that he remarked “I saved you [Bulgaria] even if I have to pay for it!”

August 23, 1943: The King was in his palace working when at 7:30pm he cut short their session, complaining of ill health. A few moments later, he was apparently seized with violent spasms and vomiting. Doctors were summoned but Boris III’s condition continued to worsen.

August 28th, 1943: Death of Boris III at 4:20pm; 6 year old Simeon becomes King of the Bulgarians. He is assisted by a council of regents including his uncle Kyril and Bogdan Filov.

January 1944: Beginning of Allied bombardments over Sofia.

September 5, 1944: Stalin declares war on Bulgaria.

September 9, 1944: The Soviet’s stage a coup and Simeon and his regents are deposed. The regents are arrested.

February 1, 1945: Prince-regent Kyril and the other regents are executed.

September 15, 1946: A referendum was held in presence of the Soviet army and the monarchy is abolished in Bulgaria.

September 16, 1946: The departure of the royal family to Istanbul and Egypt.

Why This Story

A brief backstory into why we wanted to tell this story

When you learn history at school, it’s easy to be misled into believing that it is a series of concrete facts passed down through the ages. That it’s simply lists of kings and queens and military battles that march imperviously through the pages of a text-book. But the reality is that historical accounts don’t follow clear linear narratives - there are always facts ignored and perspectives to be taken into account when reading them. What you choose to include or omit dramatically shapes the overall picture.

Take the Second World War, for example. It is a subject matter for which the UK has an apparently bottomless appetite. Co-Writer Joe grew up in Somerset on a healthy diet of Dad’s Army & Blackadder (which are still often performed on am-dram rural stages - to great reviews!). But mention Bulgaria and many people will think first of The Wombles or Viktor Krum from Harry Potter. Fair to say plenty of Europeans may struggle to point at Bulgaria on a map, let alone be aware of the story of how nearly 50,000 Jewish Bulgarians were saved from deportation and death. Co-Writer Sasha is American-Bulgarian, and had never heard of Boris III until her Opapa gave her a copy of ‘Crown of Thorns’ by Stephane Groueff, the son of one of Boris’ advisors. We were staggered that despite our many nerdy friends and our shared history-buffness, nobody we knew seemed to have heard this story. So we dove right into a mountain of research.

What became immediately apparent is that this was not just another straightforward tale of goodies beating baddies. This was going to be more thorny and as a result, more instructive for our times. Though 48,000+ Jewish Bulgarians were saved, in many ways it was down to the everyday heroism of what Michael Bar-Zohar (author of 'Beyond Hitler's Grasp') calls the 'extraordinary ordinary people.’ This isn’t a hagiography of a monarch, but rather a tale that details how Bulgarian citizens, everyday people like you or me, looked around their society and decided to make a stand for what they believed in.

Though this is ultimately a hopeful story, there is a profound central tragedy. Our research has led us to believe that ideally Bulgaria would have tried to stay neutral in the conflict after the devastation of WWI. Ultimately, the country was not militarily strong enough to not ‘pick a side’ and the reason Bulgaria wound up allying with Nazi Germany was that it was trying to regain territory. This is not glamorous and this is not noble. But there it is. Bulgaria wanted to reclaim the territories of Thrace and Macedonia and they were able to achieve that through siding with Axis Powers. However, those territories were not entirely under their control until after the war. As a result, 11,343 Thracian and Macedonian men, women and children were rounded up and sent to Treblinka. Tragically, only 12 survived its horrors. This fact remains a stain on Bulgaria and on Boris to this day. We do not in any way intend to shy away from this in our production.

We can hold the complexity about both of these truths. We can marvel at the bravery of people like Liliana Panitsa, the secretary to the head of the Commissariat for Jewish Affairs, who smuggled information to Jewish families to evade arrest. Or the interventions of Metropolitan Stefan who harboured Jewish families in monasteries across Bulgaria. Jacky Comforty's documentary 'The Optimists' interviews many Bulgarians who did as much as they could to intervene (wonderful viewing by the way). Following these events the royal family were exiled, and Bulgaria was invaded by The Soviets - so much information was covered up, and it is only in the last couple of decades that resources have become available.

Our interest as a theatre company is also to meta-theatrically 'show our work' and let people in on the nuance and conflicting information within the process of storytelling. Ultimately, we are making a play so we have had to make certain artistic decisions. For example, that Boris put the 20,000 Jewish Bulgarians into labour camps so that they wouldn't be sent abroad to their deaths. We can't know for sure of his intentions, but we open this up to you, and we do at least know that we are sharing a story you probably haven’t heard before. And we are doing it with live Bulgarian & Jewish music, some beautiful costumes and all in 70 minutes.

It means the world to be able to share a tale of Bulgarian heroism to the Edinburgh Fringe audience. These stories may not be easy to tell; which is exactly why it is vital we do so.