Комици на българска сцена, или кое му е смешното
Comedians on Bulgarian Stage or What is Funny

Summary/Abstract: This text is part of a larger study on different aspects of the development of performing arts in the twentieth-century Bulgaria under communism, accentuating the period between the late 1950s and the early 1960s, when with the ‘thaw period’ in place, comedy invaded the stage, benumbed until then by productions of plays in the vein of the normative aesthetics of Socialist Realism. Comedians appeared in the limelight both onstage and in shows, movies and on TV channels receiving thunderous ovation and uproarious laughter that, paradoxically, turned their audiences into ‘silent majorities’ (Baudrillard), eagerly anticipating their performance and hanging on every word, facial expression or gesture. With the establishing of the Satire Theatre in emblematic 1956, a cultural phenomenon loomed on the horizon: A venue was provided where satire became a major tool of public criticism, bringing together people, who through art defied the coercively established canon.

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