As You Like It can be a comedy or a tragedy, or a combination of both, depending on how you perceive it. In this sense, I brought the theme of the Ardennes forest in my concept as a symbol of escape from the unjust society and its parliamentary orders. With the play, I am not referring to the 16th or 17th century, but to our modern times, and, why not, specifically to the European Parliament and the European Union in general, which is not functioning according to our expectations. The production also draws a parallel between the Ardennes Forest and the theatre – both are spaces of freedom where anything is possible. Art is an illusion that offers us a game of interchangeable identities, but this game is not always safe as it can generate unusual representations of the self and sensations with tragic consequences. I have always been interested in different cultures and the languages in which they are expressed. Communicating with artists in their language in their homeland is easier and more stimulating, so I try to speak, albeit with mistakes, their language, now I am curious to discover Bulgarian. Every language has its own beauty, its own poetry, its own music. Good theatre is music. I like theatre that is serious, true, without compromise.

Gábor Tompa, interviewed by Violeta Toncheva (kultura.bg/web)

Can we turn our backs on an unjust society and its rulers? Is escaping to the Ardennes forest a solution? The freedom of nature and the freedom of theatre is celebrated by the characters of Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It. In Gábor Tompa’s performance love empowers the souls and bodies, art liberates, and nature heals. The identity game is in full swing, but is it safe? To find ourselves, we must first get lost in the Forest of Ardennes and talk to the jester Touchstone who wanders through it. Is it possible for a person to change completely overnight? And do we believe that a happy ending is still possible? The actors from the State Drama Theatre Stoyan Bachvarov have prepared for us an unexpected and emotional ending that will bring us back from illusion to reality wiser, more generous, and kinder.

Aglika Oltean, dramaturg of the performance