Petar Kaoukov is a talented commander, they say. He knows exactly how to steer the ship away from the reefs, and to use the currents to push it gently in the desired direction.

And he’s always prepared for the journey.

And while he is not literally put out into the open sea, Kaoukov has to navigate Nikolai Binev Youth Theatre through sometimes choppy economic waters in a country where hunger for culture rarely prevails over the zest for fried potatoes. However, he might think otherwise.

In his small, almost bare-walled office, the only indication that this is the den of the theatre’s CEO seems to be a calculator, conveniently situated at his right side, within an arm’s length. Nearby lies a stack of old, yellowish pages comprising typewritten scripts bound together in folders. They breathe the air of a surprising but precious discovery as if they had been accidentally unearthed from the basement and brought up for safekeeping under Kaoukov’s watchful eye. Oddly enough, the archives and the calculator in some way symbolise the past and the future, intertwined in the dream of a restless visionary – to try harder and get further. Whatever calculations Kaoukov is doing, since the time he and managing director Vladimir Lyutskanov came on board two years ago, rumour has it that his theatre has really taken off.

Kaoukov has real numbers to prove it as well as first hand experience. As a CEO, some of his administrative responsibilities include overseeing the technicalities around the programme and the schedules of all rehearsals, performances and tours. He also writes grant proposals, handles the theatre’s correspondence, and when it comes to cultural exchange, even dabbles in international relations.

“I’ve always thought a successful manager has to be creative,” Kaoukov says, staring at the computer monitor, perhaps for better concentration. “I’m extremely lucky to work in a place that is artistic by definition, and that brings me extreme pleasure. To me theatre is a way of life,” he says. 

Perhaps this is unsurprising when you consider that his transformations vary from Roald Dahl’s Bruno Jenkins and Eduardo de Filippo’s Quinto Bassetti to Shakespeare’s Mercutio and more. As an actor and accomplished stage director, it seems natural for Kaoukov to have conferred another role – that of theatre executive – on himself. The striking thing is that he successfully tackles all the roles he has chosen to play. Above his desk, on a memo-board, a pinned child’s drawing is the first thing that stands out. A shaky hand has outlined something that looks like a smiley, but with alternative, dramatic features: goggle-eyed and with a stretched mouth that seems to be either zipped up or stitched up. A silent witness, perhaps, of the struggle that goes into finding the right direction, so the ship does not catastrophically meet head-on with the lack of administrative cultural policy, a vital force to keep it afloat. 

How a theatre survives on the Bulgarian scene is a question that Kaoukov is ready to shrug off. No state budget is available to help run new stage performances. The cultural ministry allots a yearly subsidy, enough to cover all employees’ salaries. What happens next could be termed ‘free-style wrestling’ to keep the machine running, or in other words, to bring home some revenue. Kaoukov explains that to pay all household bills and to have enough to realise new artistic ideas, the theatre relies on ticket sales and also property management – such as letting an auditorium for a fee – as well as sponsorship and donations.

It turned out that the idea to form an adjoining youth foundation, through which to apply for grants, proved helpful, because being under the ministry’s jurisdiction, the theatre itself is not allowed to seek alternative financing.

“I dare to be proud, because in only two years, our management team, without any of us being a genius, succeeded in providing enough money for the completion of some projects,” Kaoukov says. “Progress comes when there is relatively smart and respectable governance, as well as a long-term dream on the horizon.”

The executive says that he dreams that one day Bulgaria will have a perfectly organised theatrical scene, quickly adding that perfect things simply do not exist.

“I think that a developed society or community is defined by abidance to a set of rules applicable to everyone. In that respect, theatre cannot be separated from society,” Kaoukov says.

Before answering Vladimir Lyutskanov’s invitation to become executive director of Nikolai Binev theatre, Kaoukov spent seven years at Plovdiv’s drama theatre, where he occupied the same position. While in Plovdiv he worked with prominent Bulgarian stage directors such as Krikor Azarian, Marius Kurkinski, and Galin Stoev among others.

His true passion, however, is rooted in directing. There is a parallel world that every director creates, so every stage performance is his or her perception of the dimension we dwell in, Kaoukov says. “Art, above all, is a way of self-expression. By any definition, theatre is a collective effort, but it comprises personal truths, valid for each of the individuals involved in the creative process.”

While in Plovdiv, Kaoukov staged works by Tennessee Williams, Shakespeare, and Thomas Bernhard. For two consecutive years in 2003 – 2004, he worked in Serbia and Montenegro, staging Noises Off by Michael Frayn and Tiny Dynamite by Abi Morgan.

The director is convinced that an absolute truth consists in the statement that theatre is like a blood test of the society as it measures its overall condition, its heart beat. The theatre digests our reality and reenacts how human beings relate to one another, Kaoukov says.

And here comes the great difficulty over which every director agonises, he says. To find a way, through which best to express his or her joy or torment, fears or excitement, so all strangers sitting in the dark theatre hall can relive the emotion. “If a director succeeds in making people laugh or cry, his or her mission has been fulfilled. This is where the power of the theatre lies – within human interactions and shared human emotions.”

Deyan Angelov, an actor, part of the theatre’s troupe, says that Kaoukov is nothing if not a perfectionist, whatever the varied roles he performs.

“Organisation, punctuality, synchronising and creativity is what comes to mind when I think of Petar,” Angelov says. Working with the actors when staging a play, Kaoukov encourages improvisations and personal input, but in an atmosphere of rock-solid organisation.”

Kaoukov says that his experience as a stage director helps him when he has to perform his manager role, because, naturally, it all comes down to relaying your wishes to other people, to being able to communicate in a comprehensive way. A key element in the manager’s job is when you work with a lot of people, Kaoukov says, to use an individual approach to address various issues. “It is even harder, when one has to deal with sensitive, creative people and I do not mean only the actors,” he says. “Everyone in our team is here out of love for the art of theatre; it is this contagious collective energy that in some inexplicable way captures the audience as well.”

“I’ve known Petar since his acting days,” Milena Panteleeva, a scenographer, says. She has worked with Kaoukov on numerous projects, including his last directorial endeavour performed at Nikolai Binev theatre, Peter Shaffer’s Black Comedy. “As a director he is always prepared, has a precise rehearsal schedule, so if he decides to improvise, he could step on solid foundations. I think he’s best in his manager role, though, he is something of a fakir who would not sleep for days until he makes sure that everything falls into the right place.”

Panteleeva recalls that in 2003, while working together in Plovdiv on a production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Galin Stoev, Kaoukov played Mercutio. During rehearsals, he came down with pneumonia, Panteleeva says, and it seemed hard for him to concentrate. At some point he asked whether his – then two-year-old daughter – could join him. “I want to have a real queen on the stage,” Panteleeva remembers him as saying.

Speaking of Shakespeare, it’s hard not to notice that the playwright in some way dwells in Kaoukov’s office. Several heavy volumes weigh down on the director’s self-worth, it seems.

“Shakespeare is never too much. For more than 400 years he’s been the ultimate hit in all theatre,” Kaoukov says with an energetic laughter. “Once in a while, I leaf through some of the plays to remind myself of his genius, and the exercise makes me feel really humble,” he says with a playful spark in his eyes. He believes people shouldn’t take themselves too seriously. Some healthy skepticism should be practised at all times, Kaoukov thinks, so artists, in general, cannot go astray and take themselves for messiahs.

The art of theatre will never die, he says, and Kaoukov is ready to swear by this conviction. Its death had been foreseen so many times – with the invention of radio, television, the DVD, and now the internet, he says. “But theatre is still alive, because it bears a different spirit; it has the means to tell a story by engaging human beings in the exchange of energy and emotions, coming to and from the stage. And I think people need this.”

Kaoukov says that he has received tempting job offers, with a seductive salary and all the bonuses that form the package of a higher-end executive position.

“Well, even if I say yes to that kind of an offer, there will be times when one night I would wander into a theatre to see what’s on stage. I know, within a matter of minutes that specific stage dust will enter my nostrils…The salary is not important if your job makes you miserable. I am lucky to practise my passion…and I believe that keeps me alive.”

The manager: Petar Kaoukov
The job: CEO
The company: Youth Theatre Nikolai Binev
In brief: The Youth Theatre has occupied its current renovated building on 8 Dondoukov Blvd in Sofia since 2006. Though more than 60 years have passed since actors first performed on its stage, the theatre has sometimes had difficulties in retaining the building and its artistic troupe. Nikolai Binev (1934-2003) was a prominent actor, who worked at the theatre at an earlier time.
In January 2006, the theatre welcomed its first spectators at its new address with the premiere of Kopche za sun (Droplet of Sleep), written by Valeri Petrov. Since then the audience has seen plays by Anton Chekov, William Shakespeare and Lionel Bart, among others.