Daniela Magiaru: Viewers’ diary
Zoltán Balázs in the Gergely Csiky National Hungarian Theatre in Timisoara directed such a strictly and punctually built up performance (Odysseus’ arrival) in which the theatre and opera music can be there together. The director’s business card is fascinating: he learnt from Robert Wilson, he took part in the workshops by Josef Nadj and Anatolij Vasziljev. He has put on stage theatre, puppet theatre, opera, he has performed on stage and in film. Since 2003, he has been the leader of Maladype, independent theatre form Budapest. I have seen their four performances, if I had to characterize the troupe according to these, the following things would come into my mind: openness, naturalness, mood to play and playfulness, lazy movements, fast reaction, sharp listening and artistic punctuality. The director builds his performances mostly on the actors’ freedom and the involvement of the viewers (the viewers many times become active participants of his performances). It is that kind of journey; on which you can feel yourself in a special state as a viewer.
EGG(S)HELL: What was first? The egg or the play? (d. Zoltán Balázs)
In English the title of the performance is a game of words, which refers to the hell of the egg and the hell of that at the same time. The Egg(s)Hell is a performance, which is built on the rules of improvisational theatre, it is a performance without texts. The performance, which I have watched, was made special by the jazz orchestra, who played alive. At the beginning of the performance I have seen an ironic trick: the actors were in costumes, but barefoot, the actresses were in night dresses, and high-heeled shoes, but all of them were on stage in the shadow of chicken and ostrich eggs. The visual world of the performance has been made more colourful by graceful groups of flamingos. The mood is made complete either with whitish or reddish light. The competition began: the steps on the ground and the higher and higher arcs drown into the air all were organised around the egg. The actors’ joy was obvious, when they were chasing one another, playing tennis, billiard and even when they tempted one another. When the egg broke, the offender became a clown, and started to make tricks – they became the mirror of the other, two or three of them at once – other times they shot the offender, then they had to bring back to life the “dead body” (with rhythmical drum playing or they blew air into their mouth).
All scenes have their own moods, which were brought up by the music, and the connection, which was formed there between the actors. For example, there was a scene when the actors rose the neck of their shirts, pushed down their hair, put lighting cigarette into the edge of their mouth, and their smoke flew mysteriously, it reformed the stage. The women’s bodies could become musical instruments, the orchestra was doubled. A wonderful scene, which was built on the thought of competition between the boot-licking and narcissism. Two women were arguing about their superiority, and they did not afraid of doing anything in this game: there are breath-taking flips, jumps into nothing, calm movements, kisses, desperation. All of it seemed to be connected in the reddish light, which appeared at the end of the performance, which would take us into a photo studio, where it was hard to grab the pictures of the moment, and put it into static forms.
Daniela Magiaru, Orizont, 2010
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)
EGG(S)HELL: What was first? The egg or the play? (d. Zoltán Balázs)
In English the title of the performance is a game of words, which refers to the hell of the egg and the hell of that at the same time. The Egg(s)Hell is a performance, which is built on the rules of improvisational theatre, it is a performance without texts. The performance, which I have watched, was made special by the jazz orchestra, who played alive. At the beginning of the performance I have seen an ironic trick: the actors were in costumes, but barefoot, the actresses were in night dresses, and high-heeled shoes, but all of them were on stage in the shadow of chicken and ostrich eggs. The visual world of the performance has been made more colourful by graceful groups of flamingos. The mood is made complete either with whitish or reddish light. The competition began: the steps on the ground and the higher and higher arcs drown into the air all were organised around the egg. The actors’ joy was obvious, when they were chasing one another, playing tennis, billiard and even when they tempted one another. When the egg broke, the offender became a clown, and started to make tricks – they became the mirror of the other, two or three of them at once – other times they shot the offender, then they had to bring back to life the “dead body” (with rhythmical drum playing or they blew air into their mouth).
All scenes have their own moods, which were brought up by the music, and the connection, which was formed there between the actors. For example, there was a scene when the actors rose the neck of their shirts, pushed down their hair, put lighting cigarette into the edge of their mouth, and their smoke flew mysteriously, it reformed the stage. The women’s bodies could become musical instruments, the orchestra was doubled. A wonderful scene, which was built on the thought of competition between the boot-licking and narcissism. Two women were arguing about their superiority, and they did not afraid of doing anything in this game: there are breath-taking flips, jumps into nothing, calm movements, kisses, desperation. All of it seemed to be connected in the reddish light, which appeared at the end of the performance, which would take us into a photo studio, where it was hard to grab the pictures of the moment, and put it into static forms.
Daniela Magiaru, Orizont, 2010
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)