Theatre play “Edward the second”

Written by: Cristopher Marlowe

Directed by: Andriy Zholdak

Co-production project of NICC Theatre “Jordan H.K. Dzinot”, Veles and
Drama theatre N.O. Masalitinov, Prlovdiv, R. Bulgaria

This play has several different directions: the main one is the story of Edward II in Marlowe’s play, followed by Shakespeare’s Richard II. The themes of the main play which are interesting to me and about which we talk are: the father and son relationship, in the absence of the mother, the motives of power and luxury and deriving from this, luxury indulgence, the energy of young people and their incisiveness. Also, the marriage of Edward and the creation of a family… and the incompatibility. Also, the change of Edward’s sexual orientation and his passionate love for men. Also, the death of the father, of the king, and consequently the disappearance of barriers and obstacles for the son. Also, and especially, the madness of the abandoned woman – the wife and the queen, and the plan to kill the husband.  There is the darkness of human psyche, the psychological and sexual relationships between people. But the ultimate conflict of the 21st century is the conflict for supremacy, between man and woman, and across this performance we will see this unfold. These story threads are told through different forms of theater, from psychological true situations to ritual theater and from the contemporary physical theater to the possible theater of the future. In the center of the story are the Actors who are real Persons and through them we can also see something about people living today, in 2023.

Here we pose the question of whether people have changed, from those times to our days, and if they have changed, in which direction will the waters flow…. In the same time, during the rehearsals, we observe and record what happens to the Macedonian actors during this process. interesting to see…?!

Eduard II is my third performance made with Macedonian actors, there were Electra and Solaris in the MNT, and I am fascinated by their openness to the Theater and their desire to live!

Andriy Zholdak

Andriy Zholdak

He graduated directing at the Moscow Institute of Film and Theater, under the mentorship of the famous Russian director Anatoly Vasiliev. Zoldak’s authorial poetics, as well as his directorial manuscript, are undoubtedly the result of his permanent interests in film (Fellini, Bergman, Paradzhanov, Tarkovsky) and research in the field of fine arts. For many years, Zholdak managed the State Academic Drama Theater “Taras Shevchenko” in Kharkiv, on the stage of which he directed five major projects which, apart from performances in Ukraine, were performed at prestigious festivals in more than thirty European countries. In 2005 Zoldak directed Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, a co-production between the Berliner Festspiele, the European Agency for Culture and the Aladem Drama Theater in Kharkiv. After the premiere performance at the Berlin Festival and a subsequent performance in Warsaw, the Ukrainian authorities banned the performance of “Romeo and Juliet” in Ukraine itself, forcing Zoldak to leave the theater in Kharkiv. Since then, he lives permanently in Berlin, working in leading theaters in Germany, Russia, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland. Thanks to his many years of experience as a theater practitioner, as well as his constant engagement in the field of theater theory, during recent years Zoldak has been engaged as a leader of a series of theoretical and operational theater workshops in Great Britain, Holland, Spain, Germany, Finland, France , Japan…

He is the winner of the UNESCO Performing Arts Award (2008), which is awarded for personal contribution to the development of theater, two Golden Masks for the best opera direction and the best opera director in Russia (2014, for the opera “Eugene Onegin”, staged in St. Petersburg), at the Thalia Award for the best play performed in Finland (2010, for the play “Anna Karenina”, staged in the theater in Turku). He is the winner of the award for the best direction at the international theater festival in Sibiu (Romania), the award for the best director in Romania (for the production of “Othello”, 2002), the award for the best experimental play at the festival in Torun, Poland (for the production of ” Seagull”, 2002), the audience prize at the festival “Golden Lion” (2002), the prize from the critics at the Belgrade BITEF festival (for “Three Sisters”, 2000)… In 2002, Zoldak’s play “Hamlet. Dreams”, a production of the theater in Kharkiv, participates in the Skopje International Theatre Festival MOT and receives the award from the theater critics. In Zoldak’s theater work, Skopje’s “Elektra”, staged at MNT, is his 41st professional theater direction.

Dramatourg: Sasho Dimoski

Scenography: Andrij Zoldak and Daniel Zoldak

Costume design: Simon Machabeli and Rade Vasilev

Assistant director: Nikola Kimovski

Text: Andriy Zholdak and Sasho Dimoski (according to Christopher Marlowe)

Project coordinator: Katerina Stefanovska

Roles: Vasil Zafirchev, Faik Mefailoski, Isidor Jovanoski, Jordan Vitanov, Boris Krstev, Marija Barkova, Sandra Tancheva, Kire Acevski, Boban Aleksovski, Ilin Jovanovski, Jovana Miladinova, Todor Stojkovski, Leonida Gulevska, Nikola Petkovic, Branko Mihajloski

The performance is not intended for persons under 16 years of age.