Prominent Macedonian director Kiril M. Petreski dies at 55
He died suddenly at 55; colleagues at the National Theatre "Vojdan Chernodrinski" and the Marko Cepenkov Cultural Center in Prilep announced the loss.
Renowned Macedonian director and playwright Kiril M. Petreski (1971–2026) has died suddenly at the age of 55. The news was announced with deep regret by his long-time colleagues at the National Theatre "Vojdan Chernodrinski" and the Marko Cepenkov Cultural Center in Prilep.
Career and legacy
Petreski was one of the most active figures on the country's drama scene, known for a long and dedicated career that left a clear imprint on Macedonian theatre. He joined the Vojdan Chernodrinski Theatre in Prilep in 2013 as a dramaturge and director and staged a string of notable productions that gained attention across the national circuit.
Among the productions he directed in Prilep were Harold Pinter's "One for the Road", Petar Petreski's "The Third Mother", "The Spirit..." based on works by Vojdan Chernodrinski and Goran Stefanovski, Petronius's "Satiricon or The Great Feast", Dejan Dukovski's "MME Who Started First", Bernard-Marie Koltès's "Roberto Zucco", Janusz Głowacki's "The Fourth Sister", Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince", Dušan Kovačević's "The Marathoners Run the Honorary Lap", "The Dream of Cepenkov" after Marko Cepenkov, Afrodita Kirjakovska's "How One Becomes a Tsar", "Hamlet from Gorno Dupeni" based on Ivo Brešan's "Hamlet from the Village of Dolna Mrdusha", Joseph Brodsky's "Democracy" and Marius von Mayenburg's "The Pupil". His production of "The Fourth Sister" took part in the Macedonian theatre festival "Vojdan Chernodrinski".
Petreski also directed in several other Macedonian theatres: at the Trajko Prokopiev Theatre in Kumanovo he staged "Variations: Wild Spiders" and the popular "Don't Play on the English" (included in festival programmes in 2010), while at the National Theatre "Grigor Prlichev" in Ohrid he directed Maxim Gorky's "The Lower Depths".
He graduated from the Department of Theatre Directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje in the class of Professor Slobodan Unkovski with the production "Farsa za hrabriot Naume" by Rusomir Bogdanovski. Colleagues and friends have been posting messages of sorrow on social media, remembering his energy, commitment and creative contribution to the stage.
The ensembles of the theatre and the cultural centre extended their sincere condolences to Petreski's family, loved ones and collaborators, calling his loss a great one for Macedonian culture.
Photo: press material from the event
