The Reflective Part of Man: Javor Gardev's Bulgarian Shakespeares

The paper offers an overview of the Shakespeare productions of the Bulgarian theatre director Javor Gardev. Starting with his first foray, an adaptation of King John (Bastard, 2001), through The Tempest (2004), King Lear (2006) and Hamlet (2012), the review examines the development of what might be called his post-Brechtian aesthetics, and the imaginative engagement of his productions with the emotional, moral and social pressures at the places of their origin.