“Margarito Duarte studied but a short time, yet he was self-learned for the zeal with which he went through every literary text he came across. At 18, by then a scrivener at the Town hall, he married a pretty girl, who died shortly after the birth of their first daughter.” This is a fragment from the moving story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez “La Santa”. The unusual story put into words so exquisitely by its author has now its interpretation on the theater stage in Bulgaria. So far there have been ten shows, performed in a fully booked hall, with an audience eager to admire the talent of actor Svetozar Knezovski. To him belongs the idea to provoke contemporary viewers through this one-man-show on such a philosophical and spiritual subject. Stage director is Diana Borissova, who has made sure the subtle humor with which Marques describes his characters is felt all through the rendition. “Energy-wise the show is charged with love and the feeling of hope for the miracle to happen” actor Svetozar Knezovski says.

“In this play we see the labor of a young man, who turns to the spiritual. We staged the text with the clear idea that the Bulgarian public at the moment needs to be told such wonderful stories, which give people the feeling of faith and a wonder to come. Actually wonders happen around us every day, but we seem to pass them by. The story of Margarito Duarte and his imperishable daughter, as well as his persistence for her to be canonized as saint, are in fact the occasion to talks about all human values that this imaginary character carries in him. This father character has been conceived by Marquez for the very reason of giving us the feeling of hope. In some of the lines the author speaks of the absence of saintliness in our time; and this is so because people ever more often drift away from their own inner world. They become ever more superficial and turn to things material – money, clothes, cars. People rarely think of whether they have become better persons. I have a daughter and when people ask me how she is, I gladly answer that she is giving signs that she would grow into a good person. As a parent, that is the only thing I want of her – to carry the basic values of society, which are present in all religions – compassion, love, respect and attitude towards spiritual values.”

All these virtues are existing around us one way or another, but we are permanently trying to sweep them under the carpet, Knezovski says and adds that through his one-man-shows he is trying to constantly remind of these values.

“There is no place here for egocentrism and selfishness. These are feelings mutilating human soul. When I step on stage and later, when I hear people’s reactions after the show, I feel myself as being worthwhile. The feeling of a job well done makes me feel well into my skin and gives me the energy to go through life. When I visited the Vatican in relation to my studies before preparing the theater show on Marquez’ text, Pope Francis showed appreciation for what I was doing, and was very kind to me. After that, in the square, I had a long talk with one of the cardinals. I received his blessing for the theater performance. And all through my stay in the Vatican I met warm attitude and joy about the fact that someone somewhere is opening a subject related to their life and to the philosophy of the basic religions.”

English version: Iva Letnikova