“Labor is the high price of my freedom” - That thought belongs to the great Bulgarian theatre director, Lyuben Grois, and is taken from his two-volume book of “archives”, released 20 years after his premature death. As all serious personalities, it was Grois himself who decided the development of his artistic autobiography, and it appeared to be the core of his archives and his heritage to future generations in general. His concept of the “ever living theatre”, given new significance by eternal art, as well as his multifaceted talent, in harmony with the synthetic art of the theatre, make us all feel that a Great Artist is standing before us, giving us an example how he managed to survive as an artist despite everything, due to the power of his talent. It was his great erudition and his serious engagement with the act of directing which takes him out of a long line of ephemera innovators and places him into the active day of Bulgarian theatre, among the greatest and most respected artistic figures.
Lyuben Grois worked for 10 years on the stage of the Plovdiv Drama Theatre. Here he directed some of his best performances – Ibsen’s “Nora”, Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, Evripid’s “Medea”, Yordan Yovkov’s “Albena”, William Gibson’s “Two for the Seesaw”, Konstantin Iliev’s “Basil for Draginko”.
Тhe Plovdiv Drama Theatre celebrated the 70th anniversary of his birth by a Jubilee Celebration. Ass.Prof. Dr. Miroslava Kortenska presented his two-volume book “The Ever-Living Theatre”. An exhibition was also opened – displaying posters and photos from some of his performances on the stage of the Plovdiv Drama Theatre.
The actors Rossitsa Rousseva, Stoyan Surdanov and Milen Milanov performed an excerpt of Hans Krendlesberger’s play “I have had enough – I am staying in bed”, staged by Lyuben Grois. Students from the “Lyuben Grois” Theatre College performed a poetical recital of poems by the great director. An excerpt from the Shakespeare’s play “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” was also performed, with Georgi Vassilev presenting Lance’s monologue.