NI Gostivar Theatre (MKD)

Director: Andrej Cvetanovski

The play “The Colonel Bird” by Hristo Bojchev represents one of his most successful works. It was written in 1997, and it was awarded one of the most renowned European play awards, granted by the British Council. The plot revolves around a group of mentally deranged patients, living in an insane asylum, in the middle of nowhere, where they are delivered humanitarian aid, which was supposed to arrive in a crisis area, but arrived in the asylum by mistake. This, for them, is an encouragement to set out on a journey to Strasbourg and present their case. In a time of migrant crises and illegal border crossings, this play can easily attain a fresh context, all the while speaking of the Balkans as the eternal candidate to enter the European Union. “The Colonel Bird” is a story of different people who, through their diversity and evident excitement for new things, will capture us all. Their dedication should serve as a lesson on the importance of believing and just existing in this world; however difficult it may be. The aim of the performance is to understand them, and when we do, we shall become better people. Their madness is merely a way of belief. Perhaps the idea seems utopian and idealistic, but that is the role of theatre.