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Silk

A theater performance that transforms Baricco’s novel into a meditation on the beauty of the thread uniting East and West.

See more about the project

Silk

Type: Generative, Stage, Mapping
Location: Drama Theatre, Plovdiv
Date: December 2021
Director: Diana Dobreva
Scenography: Mira Kalanova
Costume Design: Marina Raytchinova
Media Design: Petko Tanchev

Light Designer: Martin Bozhkov | Music Composer: Petya Dimanova | Sound Designer: Yavor Karagitliev | Photographers: Georgi Vachev and Alexander Bogdan Thompson

Silk is a theatre performance inspired by Alessandro Baricco’s renowned novel. Its premiere on December 11 marked the 140th anniversary of Drama Theatre Plovdiv, the first professional stage in Bulgaria. Conceived as a continuation of the journey begun with Odysseus in 2019, the work follows Hervé, a French silkworm trader who crosses continents and finds himself entranced by beauty—the only currency that transcends time.

At its heart lies a platonic love story between Hervé and an unnamed Japanese woman, unfolding as a metaphorical road linking distant civilisations. The performance reflects on opposing visions of human existence—success and sacrifice, profit and purpose, tradition and modernity—set against the backdrop of historical upheavals: Japan’s internal unrest, the trial of Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil, the arrival of American ships breaking Japan’s isolation, and France’s transformation from peasantry to industrial society. Yet above all, Silk reveals the one force that binds East and West alike: the inexhaustible, enigmatic power of beauty.

Askeer Award 2022 for Best Direction – Diana Dobreva

Askeer Award 2022 for Set Design – Mira Kalanova

Askeer Award 2022 for Costume Design – Marina Raytchinova

Ikar Award 2022 for Outstanding Technical Achievement

Plovdiv Award 2022 in the “Theatre” category – for the production team

Ikar Award Nomination 2022 for Set Design: Mira Kalanova (set), Marina Raychinova (costumes), Petko Tanchev (video design)

Askeer Award Nomination 2022 for Music – Petya Dimanova

Silk by Drama Theatre Plovdiv is the first Bulgarian performance to be included in the official selection of the world’s largest theatre event – the Theatre Olympics.

Projection of the Mindscape

In Silk, projection becomes a living extension of memory, shaping a second world within the protagonist’s mind. Using TouchDesigner, real-time simulations of particles and flocking dynamics unfold as abstract echoes of landscapes, emotions, and fleeting visions. Rather than literal reconstructions, these digital gestures magnify hidden details—patterns on costumes, fragments of light—transforming them into immersive metaphors of travel, beauty, and longing. The stage breathes as technology and narrative merge into one seamless journey.

Gallery

Between Civilisations, Between Worlds

The staging of Silk enveloped the audience in a shifting landscape where light, projection, and performance fused into one environment. The scale was intimate and expansive: delicate digital textures flickered across costumes, while vast, fluid simulations stretched into the stage space. Scenes unfolded like dreamscapes—at times minimal and contemplative, at others charged with motion and brightness.

The Poetics of Projection in Silk

Origins and Context

Silk was staged as a poetic continuation of Alessandro Baricco’s celebrated novel, unfolding on the stage of Drama Theatre Plovdiv. Its premiere held symbolic weight, coinciding with the 140th anniversary of Bulgaria’s first professional theatre. Beyond its literary inspiration, the performance extended a creative journey that began with Odysseus in 2019, exploring how travel, memory, and beauty can be translated into theatrical language.

Projection as a Second World

The projection on stage is used as more than surface decoration. Digital media operated as a parallel universe—a mirror to the protagonist's inner life, Hervé, a French silkworm merchant who journeys across continents. Real-time visuals, crafted in TouchDesigner, amplified details of the scenography and costumes, transforming them into gateways of perception. The projections did not merely illustrate; they revealed the textures of memory and the fragility of emotion.

Atmosphere and Immersion

The performance space became a horizon where tradition met experiment. Subtle textures of light traced the costumes, while vast fields of digital motion expanded into the set. The audience experienced a sequence of images and an environment that pulsed with rhythm and presence. Projection and performance were inseparable, creating an atmosphere where wonder could take root, inviting spectators to step beyond the everyday.

Civilisations in Dialogue

At its core, Silk spoke of encounters between worlds—Europe and Japan, modernity and tradition, commerce and desire. The stage evoked these crossings not through historical realism, but through the metaphorical language of projection. Each image and movement was a thread connecting disparate cultures and times, woven together by the enduring human search for beauty.

Lasting Impressions

The impact of Silk lay in its ability to transform technology into poetry. The projections multiplied the details of the tangible world, yet always pointed beyond it—toward memory, imagination, and the mystery of human longing. In this way, the performance became both a journey outward, across continents, and inward, into the fragile landscapes of the soul.

More information about the performance is on the theatre's website here.