The beginning of the summer usually means that the cultural events are shifting from Sofia to the major cities to the seaside. Such is the case with theatre and the 16th International Theatre Festival Varna Summer, which starts on June 2 and will last until June 12.

More than 30 performances will be staged during the festival, with half of the plays produced abroad.

The event will bring to Varna names like British director and Laurence Olivier Award winner Declan Donnellan, whose contemporary take on the classical tragedy Andromache by Jean Racine will be performed the Théàtre des Bouffes du Nord and 22-year-old Russian director Timofey Kuljabin, presenting Queen of Spades by Aleksandr Pushkin.

The programme includes also Shakespeare's Macbeth, presented by Rhodopean Drama Theatre Nikolai Haitov - Smolyan; Jordi Galcerán's The Grönholm Method, under the name of Swedish Defence, presented by Little City Theatre off the Channel; and Lazarus and Jesus, staged by Sfumato Theatre-Workshop and awarded an Askeer for best performance, among others.

The Croatian Zagreb Youth Theatre will present Nataša Rajković and Bobo Jelčić's On the Other Side. Rajković and Jelčić developed a unique dramaturgic method basing their plays on the life stories of the actors involved.

One of the most interesting performances to be staged during the festival is funded by SEAS - a pan-European project that brings together artists from seaport cities in Europe. The performances are placed in unconventional urban settings and rely on interaction with the audience, thus providing a fresh counter-balance to the more traditional programme.

The programme of the festival is available at www.theatrefest-varna.org.