Ankara State Theater set for Varna outing with ‘Diary of a Madman’

The festival will run Aug. 1-7 in the Bulgarian seaside resort of Varna, the Anatolia news agency reported on Monday.

According to a statement from the director of the State Theater, the festival, organized under the auspices of the Varna Municipality with the support of the International Theater Institute, an international nongovernmental organization founded in Prague in 1948 by UNESCO, is to take place in Varna’s ancient Roman baths with the aim of uniting theater lovers with the stars of the theater world.

Directed by Cem Emüler, the play is set to be performed on the festival’s “Turkish Day,” Aug. 3. Gogol’s work was adapted for the theater by Sylvie Luneau and Roger Coggio in 1967 and later translated into Turkish by Çoskun Tunçtan. Stage and screen actor Erdal Beşikçioğlu, whose popularity soared this year with his portrayal of a hard-drinking, foul-mouthed cop in the TV series “Behzat Ç.”, stars as the play’s main character.