Theatre Rehearsal – The Titanic Orchestra

The Titanic Orchestra
Written by: Hristo Boytchev
Directed by: Russell Bolam
Starring: John Hannah, Filip Avramov, Ivan Barnev
Theatre production company Sarah Stribley Productions will be presenting The Titanic Orchestra, written by Bulgarian author Hristo Boychev, at Fringe Festival in Edinburgh with the support of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute London. All the rehearsals will be conducted at the BCI, with the cooperation of its team.
For more information and ticket prices, please visit the festival’s official site:
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/titanic-orchestra

Hristo Boytchev
Hristo Boytchev, born in 1950, is a celebrated Bulgarian playwright whose work has been staged in over 40 countries. Boytchev’s came late to the theatre. He graduated from the Higher Institute of Engineering in Rousse, Bulgaria as a mechanical engineering major in 1974 and for ten years thereafter he worked as the technical manager of an engineering plant. It was during those years that Boytchev started working on his first piece, That Thing, which premiered in 1984. The success of the play prompted him to quit his job at the factory and study drama at the National Academy for Theatrical and Film Art in Sofia, Bulgaria. Upon leaving the Academy in 1989, Boytchev was named Playwright of the Year.
In 1990, while That Thing was being made into a film, Boytchev started to become significantly involved in politics (it was also during this time that the ideas for The Colonel Bird were born). He began to appear as a political satirist on one of Bulgaria’s well-known political television networks, and in 1996 he ran for president of the Republic of Bulgaria. The campaign, however, used all of its television time to satirize Bulgarian politics, and in the end Boytchev won a mere 2% of the national vote. That same year, Boytchev won a state subsidy to make a film of The Colonel Bird and he also began to author and host his own TV show.
Less than a year later, The Colonel Bird was awarded Best Play in the International Playwriting Competition held by the British Council. It would go on to be staged in more than 30 countries, including at the Festival d’Avignon at the Theatre de la Commune d’Aubervilliers in Paris, and at the Bonner Biennale at the Pleven Theatre in Bulgaria, both in 1999.
Russel Bolam
Russell Bolam trained at Middlesex University and GITIS Academy of Theatre Arts, Moscow.
Theatre includes: The Merry Wives of Windsor (Ivan Vazov- Bulgaria), Three Sisters, The Seagull, Shivered (Southwark Playhouse) In Skagway, The Road to Mecca (Arcola), The Roman Bath (Arcola Theatre / Ivan Vazov), Alfred (Vineyard Theatre), Somersaults, Captain Oates’ Left Sock (Finborough) Three More Sleepless Nights, Fourplay (Tristan Bates Theatre), and The Physicists (Aphra Studio). B His comedy directing includes shows with Edinburgh Comedy Award Nominees Pappy’s and The Beta Males.
Russell is a visiting director at Arts Ed, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Central School of Speech and Drama, Oxford School of Drama and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He is a part time teacher at Kent University, a Globe Education Practitioner and Visiting Artist at the National Student Drama Festival.
John Hannah
John David Hannah (born 23 April 1962) is a Scottish film and television actor. He came to prominence in Richard Curtis’s Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and has since appeared alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors (1998) and in The Mummy trilogy (1999-2008). His television roles include: Dr Iain McCallum in McCallum (1995–1998); D.I. John Rebus in Rebus (2000–2001); Jack Roper in New Street Law (2006–2007); Jake Osbourne in Cold Blood (2007–2008), Jack Cloth in A Touch of Cloth, Quintus Lentulus Batiatus in Spartacus (2010–2011) and Jason’s father (Aeson) in the BBC series Atlantis.
Filip Avramov
Filip Avramov is a famous Bulgarian film and theatre actor. He was born in Sofia on the 9th of September 1974. In 1997 he graduated from the National Academy for Film and Theatre Arts, “Krustyi Sarafov”, Sofia, where he studied acting with Professor Encho Halchev. His first role was in 1997 in the play “The Hat”. He has been a television host of the show Kings of Comedy and has starred in numerous Buglarian films including Sneakers (2011), Tilt (2011), Seamstresses (2007), Letter to America ( 2001) and others.
Ivan Barnev
Ivan Barnev (Bulgarian: Иван Бърнев; born 15 July 1973 in Dobrich) is a Bulgarian actor. He is best known for his performance as Jan Dítě in I Served the King of England. He graduated from the National Academy for Film and Theatre Arts , Sofia, in 1996, where he studied acting in the class of Professor Stefan Danailov. He began his career in theatre in the capital, where he played main roles in different plays, amongst which One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Dinner for Fools. He has played lead roles in many Bulgarian films including Lady Zee (2005), Day and Night (2006), Footsteps in the Sand (2010), Sneaker (2011), etc.