Zoltán Balázs’ name, in its own, guarantees the quality of the performance. His troupe, the Maladype has moving-improvisations, which have been performing for three years under the name of Egg(s)Hell, which I compensated not long ago, and I got one and a half hour long carefree game between the walls of Thália Theatre.

It is compulsory to tell that the Egg(s)Hell is a performance of movement art, which is built on improvisations without any dialogues, which was inspired by Sándor Weöres’ one-word long poem. The members of the troupe, are performing in scenes and situations, in which the viewers are involved too, they have got just the frame of it from the director, and they can work freely by the leading line. The game is the most emphasised one. We refer many times to actors’ work, as game, but I have never felt so vivid and real this expression, as now, watching the performance of Maladype.

When we talk about the actors’ performance, we rarely think over, how much it is that, how much it is about imitation, travelling, learning, working or suffering. We can rarely experience the obvious joy of game. Zoltán Balázs’ troupe could show exactly what, we can see so rarely.

It is an interesting question anyway, that such an alternative trial, as the Egg(s)Hell, which importance is the grabbing of the moment, the improvisation, do not get tired, can keep their freshness even three years after the premiere. I can give a clear answer, according to it, the performance has not got tired at all, and yes it can remain totally fresh. For it, we need the fact, that the performers can accept, that with some help, they spend the time on stage in free fall, while they are there with incredible attention and discipline. We can rarely come up against, that transparent way, with the fact how much the characters are connected to one another, as freedom reaches just as far as this does not endanger the creature’s freedom. This attention, the responsibility towards one another appears in the Egg(s)Hell, while they are telling relationships and moods with their bodies and faces.

The excitement, the changing and colours of the circle game are built on the momentary mood of the participants, it gives spontaneity, fragility, that pulsation, which vibrate between the certainty and uncertainty. The game is indicated by sounds and rhythms, they come into our head and legs, that by the effects of the played music in different orders from performances to performances we can experience together with the performers all vivid moments of their performance. The eggs go around hand by hand, mouth by mouth, sometimes they isolate, then connect, they are fragile, as the relationships are, as the difference between the performance and the game. They form a strange connection between people, while they separate them from one another too. The plastic symbol of the egg follows the whole evening, it reflects sometimes eroticism, then humour, or even self-forgetfulness. The liberation is just the appearance, the concentration is very stressed behind it, as they are performing with all their muscles, bones and breath.

The greatest virtue of the Egg(s)Hell is its vulnerability, the openness, the acceptance of mistakes, the individuality of improvisations, but I can feel some kind of trap in it anyway. A kind of competition comes up between the performers, who dares better and more honestly, roughly accept the “free fall”, who dares to open that much, to be able to give permanent memories for the viewers too. The competitions have winners and losers, that way become paler Ákor Orosz with his excellent sense of humour, and Zénó Faragó, who is really characteristic, and has strong body-awareness, or Erika Tankó does it next to Kamilla Fátyol, who is fine and shines as a sexual diva, and charming with her naturalness. She “gets” a characteristic scene, when she climbs on a ladder of people, she struggles on a human bridge between two shores, but there is the calming light of certainty on her face: where she steps, there caring hands, shoulders and stomachs keep her between the earth and air. Her face expression is the trust itself, I shiver because of its reality. Fátyol is charming, her face gives me the creeps, in which the dizzy madness and sharp attention are together. There is tense drama in her small body, an erupting power and incredible concentration. At the end of the fight, she is falling and falling, she throws herself down as an artist, under whom there is not any protecting net, but knows that she does not have to be afraid. The shiver runs by my backbone, it touches us that way it grabs our nerve fibres, then she softens the movement into a charming smile.

There is no use talking about the scenes, as they are always changing, the properties flamingos and chairs of the really bagatelle set do not give any characters to the play, the performers use everything anyway, which comes into their hands, legs, from baskets through holes on the walls to the speaker cabinets, but nothing can make us forget, that their real properties are their own bodies and souls. There are fire, battle, sex, eroticism, love desires told in chansons, playing with fire and smoke, but music is played on human bodies too, while everything is moving all the time.

It is hard to write about it, when we get into the game, which is ordered by momentary impressions and improvisations. I become a part of it, I experience that intimate atmosphere, which I can compare only to the experience of the watching through the keyhole, and sometimes I get confused but then leave the auditorium pleased and even happily. The Egg(s)Hell is a brave experiment, whose performers accept, that entertain us that way, that they are entertained too, but even give out everything from themselves, which is possible physically and with concentration.

Anna Nikoletta Nagy, Kultblog.hu, 2011

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)