Galin Stoev

Born in Bulgaria, he graduated from the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia and has been working as a director and actor since 1991. Still based in Sofia, he has created numerous productions, initially of classical authors (Corneille, Strindberg, Shakespeare, Aeschylus, Büchner, Brecht, Musset) before gradually branching out into contemporary repertoire (Mishima, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Philip Ridley).

His early career took him to various locations in Europe and around the world (London, Leeds, Bochum, Stuttgart, Moscow, Buenos Aires), where he directed several productions.
Central to his formative experiences was his meeting and friendship with Ivan Viripaev. In 2002, he directed the Russian author’s first play, Dreams, which was presented at the Varna International Festival. This was followed by the Bulgarian version of Oxygen. In 2005, he created Genesis No. 2, which was presented at the 61st Avignon Festival, as well as in Rome, Brussels, Paris and Ottawa.

In 2005, he became an associate artist at the Théâtre de Liège and La Colline – Théâtre National (Paris). In 2007, he began his collaboration with the Comédie-Française, where he directed La Festa by Spiro Scimone (2007), Douce vengeance et autres sketches by Hanokh Levin (2008), L’Illusion comique by Pierre Corneille (2008), Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard by Marivaux (2011) and Le Tartuffe by Molière (2014).

In addition, in 2010 he created Calderón de la Barca’s Life is a Dream at the Théâtre de Liège. In 2012, he staged a Russian version of Marivaux’s Le Triomphe de l’amour at the Théâtre des Nations in Moscow, followed in 2013 by a French version of the same play at the Théâtre Gérard Philippe. In 2014, he staged Liliom by Ferenc Molnár, a co-production of La Colline – Théâtre National and the Théâtre de Liège; in 2015, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at the Théâtre Impérial in Compiègne. In 2017, he created Danse ‘Delhi’ at the Ivan Vazov Theatre (Bulgaria).
His first feature film as a director, The Infinite Garden, was released in 2017.

He has also taught at St Martins College of Art and Design in London, the Arden School in Manchester and the national conservatories in Ljubljana and Sofia. His teaching practice also takes the form of masterclasses, notably in Paris (ARTA, ESAD), Marseille (La Réplique), Sofia (NATFA), etc.

Between 2018 and 2025, he took over as director of the Théâtre de la Cité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie. That same year, he created Insoutenables longues étreintes by Ivan Viripaev, which he also translated. The play was performed at La Colline – Théâtre National in January 2019. Driven by a desire to maintain contact with his audience during the theatre closures, Galin Stoev adapted the play into a series in early 2021. In November 2019, he created Marivaux’s La DOUBLE inconstance. In March 2020, he presented Léonce et Léna, based on Georg Büchner, at the ThéâtredelaCité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie, in co-production with the actors of the Théâtre de Meiningen. IvanOff, translated from a commission given to Norwegian author Fredrik Brattberg, based on Anton Chekhov’s Ivanov, premiered at the Théâtre de la Cité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie in November 2021.