Dimitar Pishev (actor, Ruse State Puppet Theatre): “I am so happy to be part of this hugely significant festival, and have the opportunity to meet with so many different artists and colleagues. It is so important for our community to support each other and learn from each other. We have just finished our sold-out performance of “Pinocchio” which feels fantastic! I will keep this wonderful memory with me. We are incredibly impressed by how cultured the festival audience is here - these are clearly people who love theatre. It was thrilling to perform on the Varna stage!”

Tanya Evtimova (actress, director, author of the stage adaptation of “Five Puppet Plays” by Kina Kudreva): “For me it is an honour and a great pleasure to participate in “The Golden Dolphin” as the festival is very close to my heart - I received one of my first awards here. After a number of years, I am here once more to present an exceptional book - “Five Puppet Plays” by Kina Kudreva. Not too much specialised literature for puppetry exists in Bulgaria so I decided to adapt these stories for the puppet theatre stage. I sincerely thank the festival for enabling me to present the book in front of such a fantastic, keenly interested audience!”

Ulan Assanbek (actor at Almati State Puppet Theatre, Kazakhstan) interviewed before his performance as Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet”: “We are so full of excitement ahead of meeting the audience today. I feel wonderful here at the festival, it is my first time travelling abroad and I really like it in Bulgaria. We have received a warm welcome from our colleagues, which is why we all feel so at home. I believe that our performance of “Romeo and Juliet” will resonate with the audience because it is a very different take on it - it is a NON-tragedy. I think that this is a unique interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s most iconic works.”

Izbastin Temirtay, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Bulgaria, interviewed after the performance: “I am so glad that the audience enjoyed this performance and our actors got a standing ovation. The language of theatre is so universally wonderful - which is why there was no language barrier today. I like Varna very much as it provides unique opportunities to see performances that cannot be seen in Sofia.”

Ulpan Serik (actress at the Almati State Puppet Theatre, Kazakhstan) interviewed after her performance as Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet”: “I feel amazing! Everyone we have met here at the festival has been fantastic. And Bulgaria is as lovely as the audience we had tonight at our performance!”

Tsvetelina Nikolova (actress at Chameleon Theatre, Plovdiv): “We are so happy to be part of the festival this year. We have come a long way to get here and we have enjoyed the warmest of welcomes. We have met so many new colleagues both from Bulgaria and from around the world. It has been wonderful to spend time together, watch each other’s performances and exchange ideas. Today we performed our very own “Leche - The Baby Bug” on the new chamber stage here at Varna State Puppet Theatre. As the new stage was made especially for the festival, it was very exciting to be the first to perform on it. It was perfect for our performance because our puppets are smaller in size, and it’s great that we get to be closer to the children. We were very emotional as we could feel the positive energy of the audience. We hope that the festival will continue to bring us together more often in the future.”