In the early evening the streets of central Sofia are alive with crowds. People wait for their dates, groups of friends meet and part, and the buzz of conversations from restaurants and bars fills the air. When it is warm enough you can see beerdrinking teenagers in the parks and on the benches of the pedestrian zone of Vitosha Boulevard.

In one special section of central Sofia the crowds on the pavements are of a different kind. People of all ages and walks of life wait in lines or converse on the narrow pavements, and even if you have no idea what they're talking about, you can tell just by looking at them that it's a gripping subject.

These are the theatre lovers discussing the spectacle that they're about to watch for the first – or the tenth – time.

There are some 20 theatres in Sofia, private ones as well as those that are state-funded. Most are concentrated on Rakovski street – often referred to, jokingly, as the "Bulgarian Broadway" – and on a short cross street. Nine theatres are located on a 500-metre stretch from the Rakovski-Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard intersection to Slaveykov Square. These are some of the most famous and respected performance houses in Sofia and throughout the country.

The first documented theatrical performance in modern Bulgaria took place at the chitalishte, or cultural centre, in Shumen. It was staged by a troupe of amateur enthusiasts on 15 August 1856. They performed Mihal Mishkoed, a Bulgarianised version of a Greek play.

In the decades leading up to the liberation from Ottoman rule in 1878, theatre performances were a much-loved form of entertainment. There were no professional troupes or dramatists. Actors and directors were local intellectuals and stages were set up in the chitalishta. The first original Bulgarian play was a comedy, The Bishop of Lovech, by Teodosiy Ikonomov. It was written in 1857 and published five years later. The first Bulgarian theatre company was founded by Dobri Voynikov and other Bulgarian emigrants in Brăila, Romania, in 1865. Considered to be the earliest Bulgarian dramatist and theatrical director in the real sense of the word, he is the author of two of the most popular plays in the history of Bulgarian theatre: Misinterpreted Civilisation and the historical play Ivanko, Regicide.

After 1878 the theatre became increasingly professional. In the 1880s, good amateur troupes appeared, and in 1892 the Salza i Smyah professional theatre company, whose name means "A Tear and Laughter," was founded. In 1904 its actors became the nucleus of the newly established, state-supported National Theatre. In the following decades a strong theatre culture developed across the country. Audiences found their favourite actors in stars such as Adriana Budevska and Krastyo Sarafov – in those days most of the actors were trained in Russia. Many of Bulgaria's then prominent writers and poets used to work in theatre or were dramatists, among them Ivan Vazov, Peyo Yavorov and Geo Milev.