Although recently we regularly hear bad news about independent theaters: unpaid subsidies, severely reduced amounts and a showdown with them in the new performing arts law, Maladype is still preparing for a celebration. The company was brought together ten years ago by Ionesco's play Jack; since then, critics sometimes refer to them as a high school of acting, or as a theater of pleasure, and sometimes as a self-righteous and excessively norm-breaking group. There is no doubt about one thing: Maladype has earned an unquestionable place in domestic and international theater with its unusual formal features and unique vision. On November 19, they will be greeted by the entire theater profession, from A to Z, from permanent theaters to alternative theaters, as part of a gala show. In connection with the anniversary, we spoke with Zoltán Balázs Nádasdy Kálmán, Jászai Mari and Őze Lajos award-winning director and artistic director.

- Maladype’s (Encounters) forerunner was the Vareso Aver troupe, made up of Gipsy and non-Gipsy members, who contracted for a single performance in a brave and free adventure (Blood wedding, directed by Zoltán Lendvai). Would anyone have thought then that it would become an officially registered theater?

- I wasn't even in the picture, but the Serbian producer Dragan Ristic wanted a piece that wasn't so folklore-based. He was looking for a director who could make theater in Gypsy and Hungarian, with a mix of professionals and amateurs, but everyone said no. They recommended me as a mentally ill guy who would accept it. At the time, I was commuting between France and Hungary and I had the desire for adventure. It was also known about the play (Ionesco: Jack, or the Submission) that it had already failed everywhere, so it was doomed from the start. In my concept, the Gipsy family spoke the Lovári language all the time and only switched to Hungarian when the Hungarian family got involved in the play, and at the end the two got mixed up. People loved it. The freedom of "why not" gave everyone such energy and faith that our eponymous performance was born.

- Then with the next one, (Ghelderode: The School for Fools), which is also a symbol-laden, surrealist material, you took a risk again.

- In that case, we also did not want to illustrate the written material. Erika Molnár, who played Galgüt, spoke three languages, the fools were Gypsies, but they had to speak Latin and they were trained for the highest etiquette, their original identity was terribly suppressed, which then exploded on stage. Here we asked: is there art, is there a single answer, path, form and content.

- And there is?

- There is no answer. I brought a gift, and I didn't: take it if you know, that's what art is about. Somewhere halfway between the two performances, we realized that we really had met each other. A normal person does not become a company leader, especially not so consciously. If the community is good and people are happy to talk about something in it and take risks, then it is worth doing.

- At that time, you were already an actor and director at Bárka, you could have followed this path as well.

- Yes, I already prepared Theomachia and The Blacks, but I felt that these people should not only be kept, but also developed. Many people have already joined us here. (Artúr Kálid, Éva Bakos, Kristóf Horváth, Balázs Dévai, Nóra Parti) Maladype was just a side activity for everyone, the scenes were made during nights, in stolen times, like partisan actions. On our way, The Blacks meant the combination of instinct and consciousness: a metacommunicative world and a system of signs that is understandable to the spectator, but also transports him into the world of ceremony, like at mass, where he is not impressed by what happens, but by how it happens. We invited opera singers who lent their voices live to the gaping actor. Many people could not put this anywhere, because they thought I had crossed a line.

- You also played in Bárka. You are headstrong, you can be yourself almost only in your own coordinates and ideas, yet you had to let roles be assigned to you. Did you meet the expectations of others?

- I don't think I could do them well. For example, I was a horrible Romeo. The only role I could do well: Hamlet. In Hamlet, my coordinated side was paired with a very free, very rebellious side of me. But I wasn't an actor there either, I tried to represent Hamlet's problem as Zoltán Balázs. It happened that during the fifth monologue I was very tired, I felt that I could not continue the play and that I needed a little break. The other me said that this is why they are paying me and waiting for the effect. Then, while they were fighting with each other, I told 350 people in the auditorium that I would like two minutes because I was tired. There was a great silence, and then I slowly started to piece together the monologue word by word. The audience applauded - they felt that the theater had been destroyed and I was just one of them - but the actors were shocked that such a thing could not be done. It was an important discovery that man dares to allow himself errors.

- At the age of six, you left home with a suitcase and ran after a traveling circus because you wanted to play. Then you became an actor and director because you still wanted to act. In managing a troupe, especially in today's situation, what is the game for you?

- I'm still surprised by the Russian roulette nature of the independent theater, they still haven't fired the bullet that's in the gun, but they'll, I'm sure. To this day, I have so many questions to ask, but I can't answer them until I get to the end. Doing is always more valuable than thinking about whether to do. I'd rather make a decision and then close my eyes or ears so we can sense it. I know that one day it will end and there is a performance at the end that I want to do, but there are still many things to go through.

- They are trying to shorten this path for you now. The performing arts law, which came into effect in 2013, has already been adopted, where you, the independents who have been highlighted so far, are classified into a practically non-existent third category after the national and permanent theaters, along with about three hundred others. As a company leader, you have to plan ahead. What will you do if this happens?

- You have to think ahead and move forward even in such a situation. I want to live and work in this country and preferably in the quality that they expect and are used to from us. If we can't get into a situation at home that matches our talent, knowledge and years of proven experience, then we will have no choice but to leave, because I don't want to and I can't work in an unworthy situation. I should be primarily concerned with the direction, the plays and the development of my actors, not with fighting in Orwellian conditions and making my voice heard.

- Are there any set-in-stone principles within the troupe?

- We don't lie to each other and to the spectator. Of course, we also have disagreements, age group and taste tensions, but the spirit is the same. It is very important for the troupe leader to be dominant, but he cannot dominate the troupe or impose his palm on the personalities of his actors, because then there will not be free, powerful and fresh people who are burning with being themselves. Here at the Base, we play in an intimate space and I have human actors. Everyone forgets that he was first a man, then he became an actor. With us, the spectators stay here even after the performance, we talk to them. We get tired if we are not being asked. I want to know what they take home: if they tell me, I get it.

- However, not many people could handle this pace. From the initial company, only Kamilla Fátyol is with you.

- Yes, what we do is not necessarily actor-friendly in the classical sense of the word, but if someone crosses this certain border, where there are no guarantees and safety limits, then it is a great experience and a great happiness. The actor reaches areas that he would never reach on his own. There is no recipe for who does it and why, but one's own responsibility cannot be avoided. You have to believe that something can happen to you here, and if it can, it will.

- Most independent theaters define themselves along contemporary lines. In comparison, you play real classics, you didn't write any pieces yourself. What determines the choice of pieces?

- I am not attracted to contemporary dramas, for me the theme is also contemporary in Don Carlos, I would like to approach the realization in a "contemporary" way. I think of the theater as much more elevated, more distant, to which signs and codes lead, it cannot be offered on a tray, because then the interest of those who come here will be destroyed. I want to surprise the spectator, but I won't surprise them because a sentence or a situation will be familiar. For me, the actor determines the play, if I don't have an actor who is suitable for the task, then I don't do that play, even though I have a list in my head of the order of the plays.

- You already have many invitations abroad. You just came home from Poland, then went to Romania and Transylvania, and then to Vienna, almost within two weeks. Did you have to push and lobby for the invitations at the beginning, or did it come naturally?

- Eight years ago, the contemporary drama festival featured The Blacks and Theomachia at the same time. They called me back then, but we didn't go because we weren't there yet. I still had to find the most ideal medium material, who are able to maintain a repertoire, operate in such an environment and do not hesitate to operate their nervous system, I’ve been having this for four years.

- How did you get Mari Töröcsik, the Actress of the Nation to "play" with you in The Marriage of Figaro?

- Do you think she would be here if she didn't want to? She is simply curious about who she is and who else she can be. I don't think I can describe the development history of Maladype more absurdly than the fact that Mari Törőcsik rehearses and plays with us in an apartment theater in the eighth district and calls me director.

Ágnes Szabó, 168 Hours, 2011

Translation by Zsuzsanna Juraszek

Maladype Theatre celebrated its ten-year anniversary this year. With a special gala that moved the industry, they indicated that not only in their name, but also with their existence, they are working to create meetings between the members of the industry, actors and spectators. On this occasion, we spoke with the company's artistic director, Zoltán Balázs.

- How did Maladype's birthday gala show go?

- It was an experience beyond expectations. It is honorable and uplifting that so many people from the theater profession and other fields (music, dance, puppetry) came. I think what really happened was what made us think it was important to organize this "people-centered" gala: the meeting. There was an intense life both on and off the stage. I think the most valuable thing is that people finally came together not against something, but for something .

- The company's name also obliges the company to do so, since Maladype means meeting.

- The theater got this name when our show School for Fools was already being prepared at Szkéné. Before that, we didn't have a company name, since during our first joint work, no one would have thought that there would be a sequel. I was a graduate director when a Serbian producer, Dragan Ristic, approached me to direct Ionesco's play, Jack, or the submission, with amateurs and professionals, gypsies and non-gypsies. This play previously failed almost everywhere in the world, so for me and the team, performing the work was a great challenge and a special adventure. Thanks to our unique concept - which unified the differences of the participants - it was still a success, so the School for Fools, which was spoken in Latin, Gypsy and Hungarian, was born as a result of this spontaneous meeting.

- A book was prepared for the 10-year anniversary. Did you close something? Or are you just focused on the future?

- This and that. Basically, I am a person of the moment, so even now, after ten years, I am still focused on the present, and I do not want to conclude, understand and digest everything. But it is a fact that such an important event unwittingly prompts all of us to interpret and examine the impulses and phases experienced together in its context. Ten years ago, the company set out on a journey and, while remaining true to itself, tried to get from somewhere to somewhere. This anniversary is a great opportunity to do a "big wash".

- Even if they do not draw a conclusion, there are still milestones.

- Naturally. Such were The Blacks, Acropolis or Leonce and Lena. Of course, not necessarily in the sense that these performances were/are being tried to be boxed in by theater analysts. It's true that we didn't make their job easier, because we changed the style or direction of writing that they could have gotten used to. I learned from Ilona Béres that you have to be able to switch and stop in time.

- How did Ilona Béres get in touch with the troupe?

I asked her to play the role of Kronos in Sándor Weöres' play Theomachia. Ilona Béres is both a curious, childlike creature and a determined predator. If she smells blood, she will strike. She made a decision after the invitation and did not look back. As Kronos, she stood motionless in the set for two and a half hours, spoke backwards in the second half of the work, and even had the energy left to provide useful advice to her young colleagues. I think she really knows what endurance is. In Theomachia, she stood not with his feet, but with his "head".

- Did Mari Törőcsik also come as a predator?

- She came back from the death. Who else could do this "stunt"? Mari Törőcsik, like Ilona, ​​is still curious about the new, the ever-changing. Sándor Zsótér and I asked her to play the role of Marcellina in Figaro, and she came to play at Maladype. At Maladype Basis, Mari Törőcsik plays so close to the audience as perhaps never before. A lively and vibrant playmate, an attentive and giving Master. I wish she could be with us as much as possible.

- What is special about Maladype that grabs you so much? How would you define and promote Maladype?

- I don't want to promote it, it's not my job. I don't know what makes you "stick" to it, but I'm sure that Maladype is a community theater where independent and free personalities strive for the experience of performing together night after night. It is important to us to maintain a constant and deep conversation with spectators, for that we developed a strong and direct relationship with our audience. We believe in human-centeredness, the "human actor", which means that during the performance, the actor reminds himself again and again that he was a human before he was an actor.

- Are spectators always open to this game? Wasn't it the case that the audience just didn't want to play along? After all, the performance of Leonce and Lena wouldn't even work if the audience didn't participate.

- Fortunately, spectators are extremely open-minded. However, the actors of Maladype must also be able to handle situations when the audience has difficulty opening up for some reason. In such cases, a lot depends on the actors' intelligence, ability to create relationships, as well as their sense of rhythm and style. It's a matter of continuous conditioning. We cannot pretend that the spectators are not in the same space as us and that we do not notice when they sneeze, ask for a tissue or go out. In recent decades, the theater has, unfortunately, placed the spectator further and further away from the happenings on stage, in an observational position. We want players and spectators to be able to get closer to each other again during the game.

- In the troupe young people make the majority. Is it something that changes constantly?

- Continuously, but that's okay, because theater itself is change, metamorphosis. If it is not capable of renewal, it feeds itself and dies. Sometimes it's brutally hard and too fast, but it's necessary. It is important for a troupe to dare and offer something new to itself and the audience, because if it is not able to do this, it will become worn out and remain introverted. Young people are perhaps the most suitable for this risky business.

- Can you accept it if someone suddenly quits, for example Leonce and Lena and goes to another troupe?

- I can/could accept it, but this has never happened before and I believe that it cannot happen, since the actors of the troupe didn’t sign on to Maladype in search of an easy adventure. They know what they are doing, but if it doesn't turn out the way they planned or the way we wanted, there are people who are so honest that they don't let down either the company or their playmates with whom they previously built the performance. With Leonce and Lena, we are at the 83rd performance and it is the most specific piece of Maladype's eight-piece repertoire; it is not as easy to jump out of it as it is to jump in. We currently play our shows in three different locations: Maladype Base, Thália and Trafó. I consider this important because our actors can try themselves in several plays at the same time in several locations. Unlike the majority of Hungarian actors -whose university training basically prepares them for safe acting-, the Maladype troupe is committed to surprising, unpredictable and constantly changing theater situations. It is impossible that while everything around us changes, we ourselves do not change...

- You recently stated that "it's an extreme situation" and it's hard to run an independent theater under such conditions.

- Hard as a rock. We are trying to stay alive, move forward and show new things, while our work is being less and less supported and our room for maneuver is becoming more and more narrow. Materially, the situation is clearly "extreme".

- You are one of the prominent independent theaters.

- Yes, we are highlighted with a "surplus" of 500,000 HUF. It doesn't matter what domestic and international successes we can show, it doesn't matter whether we have a long-term strategy and concept, operating principle, infrastructure and sensible, verifiable economic operation, unfortunately all of this is not what matters. What matters is who's who you are and what circles you belong to. The more you're around, the more certain survival seems - apparently. Certain achievements, values ​​and results should speak for themselves. Those theater communities and intellectual workshops that have already proven themselves and that believe in consistent team work and want to develop, whose goals are characterized by innovative tendencies and the continuous pursuit of quality, should be given the opportunity - as, for example, in Poland - to continue to develop and fulfill themselves. In Poland, they say to a beginning company manager/director: our friend, you get five years, and when it is over, we will see what has been realized of your plans; where is your talent, your momentum, and what is the new perspective of the company you lead. If we see that you were able to run your theater business efficiently and successfully, you will get another 5-10 years, if not, thank you very much. But at least that person got a chance.

- But the possibility of “Barn’s warmth” is also there.

- Sure, it's everywhere. I don't think this is the case only here, but I live in this country. I would be proud if things didn't work that way in this country. It's like Orwell's Animal Farm: all animals are equal, but the pigs are a bit more equal. However, there are other people working on the farm. The independent theater sphere is no more valuable than any other theater environment, the different areas of the theater structure cannot be distinguished and subordinated to each other in this way. I would like those who have already put something on the table to not always have to start from scratch, because that way you can neither plan nor develop - but staying alive is also in question.

- Despite the not very positive picture, what else do you have planned for the second half of this season?

- Now that the Maladype 10-year anniversary celebration is over, we will continue the rehearsal process that has already started. Schiller's Don Carlos and Goethe's Egmont await us.

Beáta Kézdi, hetivalasz.hu, 2011

Translation by Zsuzsanna Juraszek

As a kind of reckoning, the ten-year-old Maladype Theater holds a one-week jubilee series with performances, screenings, and a book launch. As part of this, a gala evening will be organized tonight at the Pesti Theater, where Mari Törőcsik, Ilona Béres, Éva Almási, László Sinkó will appear, among others, and the list of performers is very long. We spoke with Zoltán Balázs, the head of the troupe, about the beginnings, the present, and the chances of the company's survival.

- I don't want to sum it up, but since Maladype means meeting, I thought it was stylish to meet yourself again, with someone who fell into this adventure by accident, together with the spectators who grew up with us. - Zoltán Balázs justifies the necessity of the jubilee week - We are researching where we came from and where we are going. I learned from director Robert Wilson, who I consider one of my important masters, that sometimes you have to stop for a while to see the direction you are heading towards, put the risk factors in their place, you have to motorize things again.
Today's gala evening at the Pesti Theater is primarily a meeting with those who have been and will continue to be associated with the Maladype Theatre.

- Many people thought that they belonged there, and this is also important because now independent and permanent theater artists come together not against something, but for something - Zoltán Balázs adds. Many people come to the gala from many directions, and according to the head of Maladype, the fact that Éva and Ágnes Almási are performing on the same stage says a lot about the openness of the initiative, this can also prove that there is still an opportunity for meeting and dialogue today - claims the Transylvanian-born actor, thirty-four-year-old Zoltán Balázs, who also holds a degree in directing. He had just graduated from college when a Serbian producer approached him to create a performance in Gypsy and Hungarian, and offered him a play by Ionesco, Jack or the submission, the young director was attracted by the adventure and said yes.

- The Maladype troupe was created from the team at that time. Then they made the School for Fools, which was also a success, then new members joined the team. Later, a new task always arose, and this courage, risk-taking, and enthusiasm kept the team together. The actors became playmates and mediums who demanded the attention of the troupe leader, the excitement of playing together and traveling together. The team has changed in the meantime, almost all members of today's troupe are trained actors, having attended university in Budapest or abroad. Kamilla Fátyol is the only one who can be considered Maladype's own upbringing.

- It is a big thing that we proved to be viable, that we developed our own image and that we entered the international market. The actors became more confident in being able to communicate with the world. But together with the troupe, my job is to constantly passionately and greedily search for and research the new - says Zoltán Balázs - of course this involves fights and struggles. They can be my mouthpieces, but they can also deny what I ask of them, and this results in rethinking and reformulation. We are full of new goals and new dreams.

- An important stage in the life of Maladype is that they recently got their own performing venue, the Base on Mikszáth Square, a three-room flat, where, for example The Marriage of Figaro was made, Mari Törőcsik also took a role in this production, but the troupe currently has eight performances in its repertoire. In addition to their own base, they continue to play at the Thália Theater and Trafó.
The Maladype Theater, as an independent company, received 34 million state subsidies for one year three years ago, 22 million last year, and only 15.5 million this year.

- The existence of the team is uncertain. We can pray and lobby, but I still believe primarily in work, for example, foreign co-production opportunities represent a serious opportunity - says Zoltán Balázs about the future, who cannot predict whether Maladype will be able to stay together for another ten years - So far, nothing has happened but from one side of the boulevard of Tavaszmező Street, we moved to the other side, Mikszáth Square. We cannot know in advance how long a meeting will last - he notes with a wry smile.

Gyula Balogh, Népszava, 2011

Translation by Zsuzsanna Juraszek

The internationally noted director comes and goes in the world like Odysseus, who feels that perhaps it is time to return to Ithaca, his home. His new direction, the stage version of Margaret Atwood's novel The Penelopiad, will be presented on the 22nd of July at the Gyula Castle Theater after the Budapest one. 

- Is it a coincidence or a conscious choice that in recent years, the world has produced performances by women writers that captivate from a female perspective. The line-up is enriched by the stage version of Atwood's novel, The Penelopiad, which tells the story of Odysseus from the wife's point of view. Do you miss the female point of view these days?

- Absolutely. Especially the capacity for empathy and forgiveness. The characters of the plays I direct are experienced, determined and strong women who fight for their rights. Such deeply emotional and self-identified women who bravely stand up against fixations and prejudices. I'm lucky because the actresses kept me close to their souls during the rehearsals for Gardenia, Nine and Alice in Bed, they didn't slander or take sides. Harmony quickly developed between us and proved to be lasting.

- What occupied you in The Penelopiad?

- I am interested in the passion of the search for truth. The elemental desire that drives Odysseus's wife to finally hear her own voice. According to Atwood, the past helps us understand the present, so it not only strengthens the female aspects of the myth, but also presents us with a psychological thriller full of secrets and an exciting crime story running on several threads, in which the long-suffering Penelope is forced to face herself and a hidden crime. You have to carefully sort through delusions, manipulative intentions, conflicting opinions and defamatory rumors. At the very end of the confessional story, Penelope refers to herself and Odysseus as shameless liars. As a couple who never believed each other's words. His revealing statement reveals that we all exist from lies.

- The torments of physical existence, from illnesses to difficult family and relationship constraints, lock man into matter, who can only be free in his imagination and spirit. Did this idea inspire you to stage the play Alice in Bed, which was performed at the Örkény Theater for the second time? In this, the mysterious illness and bedriddenness of the writer Alice James come to life with the images of Alice in Wonderland?

- In 2020, I staged Susan Sontag's work as an exam performance for the graduating acting class of the Marosvásárhely University of Arts, but unfortunately, due to the Covid epidemic, the students were only able to perform the production put together with a lot of work once. After what happened, we all had a strong sense of loss. When I received an invitation to direct the MESS International Theater Festival in Sarajevo in 2022, I immediately knew that I had to rethink this multifaceted existentialist play with Bosnian artists. The significance of my choice was only enhanced by the four-fold jubilee associated with the personality of the American writer: the anniversary of her birth and death, the thirtieth commemoration of her production of Waiting for Godot during the Yugoslav War, and the American premiere of Alice in Bed.

- To what extent did the historical, social and cultural background, the memory of the Bosnian War, the Sarajevo War Theater, whose members were honored as national heroes, give additional meaning to the performance?

- The social memory of the South Slavic war is alive. The mental injuries caused by the siege are passed down from generation to generation, therefore the thinking of the youngest generation of artists is deeply influenced by the exploration and knowledge of the still hidden burdens of the unspoken past. In Bosnia, peace is lasting, but religious, political and ethnic tensions are still present, unresolved spasms remain. The creators try to find themselves and their place in the world in the spirit of "pure memory". At the beginning of the rehearsal process, we got to know each other's viewpoints and revealed our personal experiences related to the Sontag text.

- The image of the disease also appears in Sontag's other writings.

- Sontag dissects the concrete and abstract rhetoric of disease images, the metaphorical and metaphorical application of the pathological condition in his study volume entitled Illness as Metaphor. In his opinion, well-executed similes, which can even carry contradictory ideas, can be used to describe sensuality, passion, repression, purification and "stiffness of the soul". Alice, suffering from a variety of obscure and debilitating illnesses, experiences her state of stuckness as cyclical projections of despair, hopelessness, and rage. Negative emotions, family tensions and traumatic memories form a specific pattern in his imagination. The pyramid-like structure symbolizing the state space of the performance also reflects this, the mountain of unresolved issues rooted in the past. In Sontag's world view, the landscapes of the realm of illness are populated by ominous metaphors, which are difficult to get out of, so I supplemented the text of the work with three riddles. The answer to the first is "Memory" and to the third "Nothing". The arch stretching between the two expression is the supporting pillar of the performance: it is only possible to move forward if we eliminate the dissonance that is straining within us.

- He was forced to wind up the Maladype troupe. Are they about to pass away or be reborn?

- Time will tell. All forces unfold in their own time, but this moment is unpredictable. We have to be ready for it. Maladype's vitality has always been fueled by change. Since our inception, we have known that everyday life is full of surprises, side effects, anomalies and adversity that we have to overcome. The strength of our theater lies in its organization and not its size. After we were forced to part with our permanent company due to financial reasons in May 2023, we returned to project-based operation. We are currently creating domestic and international co-productions with guest artists, which we distribute on several continents.

- A noted artist on the international stage, he absorbs many cultures during his foreign productions and guest performances at Maladype. Do you observe domestic theater conditions from the status of an outsider?

- Although thanks to my work abroad I can stay out of the domestic theater scene, I still regret that I cannot make a meaningful contribution to the development of Hungarian theater life with my knowledge, experience and international network of contacts. It is a world phenomenon that the quality of the theater, just like that of the food, changes before our eyes, and not necessarily in a good direction. Amid the multitude of direct messages, our professionals forgot to write in theatrical language. Forward-looking attempts are being made in the form of "local anesthesia", but I would rather call these efforts zone reforms. We need more creators who, keeping in mind the cause of theater art, by connecting creative intentions, are able to unite our battered theater world as a bridge.

- They developed a progressive, innovative direction in their application with Andrea Rost to manage the Opera House. Together with the other applicants, they "failed" by sticking to the proven, the usual. Does it make sense to come up with an experimental spirit in this centralized cultural management?

- That's the only thing that makes sense. Conceptual, daring and independent thinking induces real change. As co-creators of Andrea Rost, we undertook to create a distinguished place for the Opera House in the international opera world. We did what we deemed necessary and we live with the consequences. The misery surrounding the opera competition made our friendship with Andrea even closer. For me, cosmopolitan artistic individuals like him, who are carriers of universal urges, are extremely inspiring. It takes a lot of fortitude not to give up when you see what others don't. As before, we use our knowledge where it is needed. I recently received an invitation from Amsterdam to lead an art institution, but I don't know if I, who, like Odysseus, constantly come and go between the islands, would be able to settle exclusively on the land of Kirké or Kalypszó. It may be time to return home to Ithaca, where my home and family are.

Rita Szentgyörgyi, HVG, 2024

Translated by Zsuzsanna Juraszek

 

The internationally noted director comes and goes in the world like Odysseus, who feels that perhaps it is time to return to Ithaca, his home. His new direction, the stage version of Margaret Atwood's novel The Penelopiad, will be presented on the 22nd of July at the Gyula Castle Theater after the Budapest one. 

"A director has to make his mark in his very first performance: if he doesn't succeed at first, he won't look for it later."
The Maladype Theatre is now celebrating its tenth birthday. Instead of celebratory honorifics, should we start with saying "maladipe"? Because sometimes you say "maladájp" and others "maladip".

- It should be pronounced "maladipe", but as a joke I also say "maladájp", as it is pronounced in English at international festivals. In Gypsy, for example, "malagyipe." For me it can be "maladip" or "M.D." also - anything is good. Back then we needed a name that accurately expresses the essence of the spontaneous encounter between Gypsy and non-Gypsy actors during the company's first work (Jack, or the Submission). Maladype means meeting in Gypsy, and since the sound of the word is also very beautiful, we kept it.

- The pictures in your performances are also beautiful. You used to talk a lot about non-verbal theater as your ideal. Somehow, I've always felt that between visuals and text, the latter is secondary for you, for example in Leonce and Lena...

- However, there is a lot of text in Leonce and - although powerful movements accompany the different scene variations - the backbone of the performance is still the precise and clear interpretation of the written material. Regardless, we also have non-verbal solutions, but dramas are not only baroque tangles of visual worlds or acoustic pleasures. There are many conditions for image, text, movement and music to meet, but they are only interesting together. Mostly, everything depends on the condition, readiness and creative energy of the actors: how fresh their brains are. The team has changed over the years, partly because as the leader of an independent troupe, of course, financially I cannot maintain families. If we talk about the leading of the actors, Egg(s)Hell is our most special performance, where there is no text, the actors have to improvise, and I can no longer help them during the performances. Everything is their responsibility. Actually, non-text-centered performances based on non-dramatic material are better for conditioning the actors.

- Then you also say that sometimes the image and text match, other times not. Can you give an example of both?

- It happens that I see something as very good, but others think it is not. For example, "too beautiful" - this is often blamed on me, and I don't really know what to do with it. The clarity, orderliness and discipline of the iconography mean perfect harmony to me. Striving for this is essential in my stage compositions. Such was Pelleas and Melisande, which I consider one of my most beautiful works. Over the years, I realized that if I had left enough time at the beginning after Pelleas... or The Blacks, then over time not only the spectators but also the analysts would have learned to decode each language, but Maladype and I had always changed the language. When they would have said that it was good, we understood, then we jumped to another type of performance, for example Empedocles, in which practically nothing happened while the actor got from one side of the stage or the table to the other, only the whole world turned around and with him. The Man was at the center, around whom everything is constantly changing. I've been directing this ever since, as it's what I'm most interested in: this is what King Ubu and Inferno is about, that's what School for Fools was like, Theomachia and Empedocles.

- And from your point of view, what didn’t work out?

- I do not know. Sanyi Zsótér and I still have a little argument about Acropolis (Wyspianski's play was directed by the two at Bárka - N. H.). He is convinced that it was too big of a task because we did not assess enough what the team at the time could handle. I agree with that, but if we didn't do it then, we would never have gotten to Leonce and Lena, which is now running its eighty-fourth performance. Our first few works were sent to heaven by the critics, then some of them didn't find the handle after that, because our pace changed: our internal development required a different rhythm.

- You mentioned that as an independent it is difficult to support the families of company members. Politics also has a big say in this.

- Of course, but not only politics. Taking care of a company is also a matter of concept, strategy and cooperation. Obviously, the situation of the independents is the most difficult, but I must add that if the selection comes sooner, and in addition to the many small companies there are some that receive guarantees, we would hold it elsewhere. In Poland, for example, they say: you get five years, my friend, in that time show what you are capable of! If we see that you have enough talent, perseverance and perspective, we will give you another ten years. Think about what it's like to work without accounting for everything you've spent operating money on when you know no one is looking. So what's up? Who you know. This is not normal, this is infuriating; and the most infuriating thing is that we can all do something about where we are.

- I've never heard you talk about public affairs, especially not on stage.

- That's why we reflect to the news, even if we don't do “news theater”: in King Ubu, the dailies randomly fall into the hands of Ákos Orosz or Ádám Tompa, but of course everything is always a bit arbitrary with us. Kornél Mundruczó is really interested in this form of theatre-making, and he does it well, but we and I are interested in something completely different, and I'm afraid it wouldn't go well if we turned to it. Many timely ideas will also arise in Don Carlos, but in the meantime the actors are still expressing Schiller, and then Goethe in Egmont. I would never do documentary theater because I am not interested and because there are directors who are really specialists in this. Today's theater is a little too compassionate for me anyway. Too forgiving and conflict-free. A “friendly” rehearsal process became somewhat mandatory.

- You also always say about your company that it is above all cheerful.

- Of course, it is cheerful, but this cheerfulness is given by energy. The real, nerve- and brain-consuming, flowing energy. We still grind and argue with each other.

- And others don’t?

- Others too, but there are many "theaters of love", where the main thing is that the actors do not come into conflict with the partner, the director or the material. Least of all with themselves. Art itself is a conflictual genre. It is not worth trying and playing conflict-free, at most only lightly.

- Then let's take a conflict: your production of The Duchess of Malfi was removed from the program of the National Theater after a few performances. It turns out that it is visually identical to a performance of Oedipus the King...

- I wasn't talking about that kind of conflict. When Mari Törőcsik was accused of embezzling the assets of the Művész Theater, she said that if she had a whole hour on a TV channel where she could talk about all this publicly, she would do it, but not in three minutes. This is too complex, complicated and ugly story for that. I think she spoke about this for the first time in fifteen years on “Záróra”. Here, I would only note that the history of Malfi can be searched in all my directions up to this point. A director has to make his mark in his very first performance: if he doesn't succeed at first, he won't look for it later. Those who have really followed my career know that I have been dealing with the same problem (individual versus collective) and the same signal system for years. From the first moment, opera, puppetry or exotic, Asian, African art are present in my works. Why would I need to copy anyone when I can work from authentic sources?

- The problem here was that Malfi and King Oedipus’ visuals were the same.

- How would it have been the same visually? One depicts an atavistic, Beckettian end-world based on decayed, raw and rough materials, while the other presents a bright gothic visual world woven with oriental minimalism and aesthetics, elaborated in details, in connection with a didactic play such as Malfi. That is why the stage lacked the blood and filth that Hungarian traditions would have "required". Julie Taymor, who directed that Oedipus, borrowed this huge, large-handed, double-headed solution from the Kwakiutl Indians around Vancouver Island or the Eugungun Flali masks from Ivory Coast. It's not her invention, just like it's not mine. These were made for various tribal ceremonies, from which Taymor most likely drew as we did for Amalfi. But (theatre) renewal cannot work without learning about the cultural traditions of humanity. This affair was a nasty trap into which we all carelessly walked. And the worst part is the procedure itself: it was as if they were renovating the performance, and then there was no word, no speech, I found out from somewhere else that it was taken down. I learned from it. I consider Malfi to be one of the most important performances of my career, and I always think of the actors playing in it with great affection, because they took a risky and unusual path with me during the rehearsal process. László Sinkó's portrayal of Bosola was the greatest acting performance of the season.

- Then let's move on. You are no longer only directing rarely played authors, and of course you are looking for your own way, but you are also using recipes. Do you usually watch other directors' interpretations before your work?

- Yes, I think it is very important for a director to be informed and prepared. I read everything I can.

- Aren't you afraid that it will bind your imagination?

- No way! Just because I read Thomas Mann, I don't start writing and speaking in his style. And I don't need to take pictures from others, since I have my own dreams and independent visions of the world and myself. I had good teachers who believed in the continuous development of association skills, and I live according to their guidance.

- Orsolya Kővári conducted several interviews with you. You told her you knew exactly where you are heading to.

- That's right, and I'll tell her. I promised, because for a long time she’s been trying to get out of me what that piece is that I'm really interested in.

- But why don't you do that right now?

- Because I'm not there yet. This is the lesson of the Acropolis, you can't rush the things.

- And if you were to experiment over and over again the perfroamnce that interests you the most?

- No, you can't store the jam five times either. New piece, new challenge. If I’ll be alive, I will do it. I have great actors, but they have to get there with me. Anyway, there are several things holding it back, we perform a lot, we travel a lot, I also have foreign directings waiting for me, who knows when there will be time for that. I would also like to write a book, and that would also require a quiet semester.

- That's what I wanted to ask. You reflect quite a lot on your own work.

- Which is perhaps not typical for directors in Hungary. Now for the anniversary, after crazy work, a book about ten years of Maladype has been published. We also organized a birthday gala, which finally brings people together not against something, but for something. But nothing ends with the holiday, we keep working. We're still alive, I think an independent company can't show more than that today.

Noémi Herczog, Revizoronline, 2011

Translation by Zsuzsanna Juraszek

This year, Zoltán Balázs celebrates the ten-year existence of his company, Maladype. They commemorate the anniversary with events, a book about the company’s ten years and the staging of Dante’s Divine Comedy. The leader of the company squeezed a good hour and a half between two festivals to talk about his working method, the experiences and memories of the ten years.

- Let’s talk about festivals first. How did you prepare to perform abroad with the company?

- In the first place, the way our company works is quite special. Our eight pieces in the repertoire must be constantly conditioned. They need to be maintained at all times. Physically, the expectation from the actors is quite high. At the same time, you have to prepare mentally, because the stage presence is not just instinct, not just intuition. The brain, the attention, the shared attention, the parallel perception, and therefore the mental condition, need to be trained. This conditioning takes place with us all year round. Festivals are a test for us of how well something works in a foreign environment that we have worked all year long. Luckily, they call us a lot and we accept requests.

- Is there a difference between Hungarian and foreign audiences?

- Yes, absolutely. Hungarian spectators cling to the verbal part of the performances. Abroad, the importance of metacommunication at festivals intensifies. It is a different challenge for the actor to speak to audiences who do not understand what he is saying. Even though there is subtitling, things are so tense that the spectator does not have time to follow the subtitling. It’s the actor’s job to bridge that. That’s why I also expect my actors to live in the moment to capture change in themselves and in the spectator.

- By the way, how much do the Hungarian audience buy for the interactive theater?

- Pretty much. By the way, I don’t poke the spectator, there’s no aggression in interactivity, I don’t pour ketchup on them, we communicate at a given moment, in a given space, through a given topic. We are already at the eightieth performance with Leonce and Lena. Anyway, we have a large number of performances and we work with a fixed repertoire. And we have three variations for performing venues.

- Earlier it was the Bárka. Was it easy to say goodbye?

- Yes, it is very easy. I spent a long time there. While I was a member there, I lived a double life between the Bárka and my own company, Maladype, but even then I basically lived for Maladype. My team worked at a different pace than the company of Bárka. We were spinning at a different speed and we were lucky because when Krétakör ceased, the leaders of Thália invited us to the Studio. It only took a year, but I had to go down that road then. We had to build our own place. Anyway, as I see it, many great theater thinkers get there at some point in their lives to create in the intimate conditions of a “home” theater.

- Do you like this environment?

- Oh, very much! It's very good for me to come in here.

- What about Budapest?

- I love Budapest the most at night. Night covers the ugly and makes people more liberated. Paris and southern Spain are also important places, Paris is perhaps my favorite city, but I would go to Tibet or even Iran, where there are big spaces, endless spaces without people.

- Going back to your company: Saying goodbye to Bárka also meant parting from several people, only Kamilla Fátyol remained. Didn't that hurt?

- I didn't lose them. However, some of them have started families and I cannot afford family people. It is also the price of independence that you have to give up certain actors. Maladype continued on its own way, and people lent their knowledge and talent to it. Everyone had their time, shorter or longer distances. Change itself is natural in theater. Everyone is afraid of change.

- You do not?

- No, I love change. For me and for the theater I make change is everything. I expect a lot from my actors. They have to work with difficult texts, with complex texts. They are not used to it, they do not learn it. However, I challenge them. I studied abroad, I saw alternatives like Robert Wilson or Anatoly Vasilyev. They did not give answers, but taught them to ask. The constant questioning starts the process of finding answers within myself, reaching for things without a prescription - for Dante, in which nothing is guaranteed.

- Indeed, Dante: you started celebrating the anniversary of your company with Inferno. This is an important stage in your spiritual journey. Why don't you sit in Dante's place in the performance?

- Many have asked this. It’s about me, indeed, but one works with mediums. I don’t miss acting or directing anyway. I'm neither an actor nor a director. There are very few things anyway that would still interest me as an actor and I want to work with even fewer directors. Hamlet was a great gift. I was infinitely free there, even with the strict rules of the game. I boldly experimented with my body, my brain, with everything that I am. I learned a great deal through Hamlet. Now I have playmates who are also interested in the most beautiful thing, metamorphosis and dare to take risks. I finally found my partners in them.

- Is it that good now?

- Yes. I put these opportunities and tasks in their hands with a good feeling. A good example for this is Egg(s)Hell, where I don’t have a chance to help them. I trust them, but to do that I had to lay down the rules exactly, to draw the world within which they could move. They are not under supervision, I do not stress them. I can’t imagine playing in my company, I have to stay out. This is a delicate thing inside and out, I don’t want it. I can only accept from Woody Allen that he directs and plays at the same time, he is somehow authentic both inside and out.

- How much democracy is there within the company anyway? Can they use their own ideas?

- Of course, they can use it. At the same time, my concept is pretty definite. I’m already attending the first reading rehearsal that I know the piece from start to finish, I don’t want to use my actors to experiment. I want to steer, guide and help them. At the same time, you have to ruin your security yourself, and that’s where the biggest risk is. "Surprise me" and movement are important within the system. Form and content, on the other hand, are not enemies. There is a phobia of form and beauty in Hungary.

- When you found your actors, was the most important thing for you to be able to create with them like that?

- I was looking for good “material”. They cannot know this method because it is not taught to them. Good basic skills are important.

- When you look at them from the outside like that, do you feel they’re achieving what you wanted? I’m talking especially about Dante’s Inferno.

- I have important topics to account for in life. I didn’t want to be a traitor myself. There were those who started out as revolutionaries with radical thoughts in their heads, and yet they became fossils of the system they wanted to overthrow. I want to avoid this. Such an adaptation of Dante can help me. In the depths of Hell, when confronted with Lucifer, the decision is whether one becomes a traitor. I don’t want to look back at what I did frozen in ice at the age of sixty. I want to be strong, courageous and risk-seeking even then, surrounded by people who believe in the same. Theater isn’t a dead genre, but some make it dead, and that makes me terribly angry. They reduce it, they make it down, they make primitive gestures towards the spectators, even though they are not stupid.

- When you were preparing for the performance with the company, were you watching movies, pictures, listening to music, which evoked the atmosphere of hell that helped in the creative process?

- There was even a cartoon, we watched an Inferno cartoon with drawn monsters. But we also saw the movie Dante’s Peak. We also listened to Liszt, of course. Awareness is an important requirement, but processing and rewording are even more important. Dante gains a lot of impressions that make him change himself, he understands that he has to live, he has to come back after his own hell, but in the meantime something has changed radically. If Zéno does it well [Zénó Faragó, in the role of Dante - ed.], His voice will tremble there.

- The performance is very intense, it takes a lot of discipline to change everything in a matter of moments, you have to be present in the moment. How could you solve this with civil actors?

- Obviously, it was my job to keep the concept. They worked with great humility. Andi (Andrea Ladányi, in the role of Andrea Ladányi, Vergilius - ed.) said that she had never seen such a disciplined choir, even though she had worked with a lot of dancers and choristers. I had to convince them, but for that, it’s essential that I believe in what I’m doing. If they succeed, they will throw themselves in it, as they are also there to create something good, to participate in it.

- In the Dante play, you used Babits' text and Ádám Nádasdy's fresh translation at the same time, putting the snippets quoted from Babits in the mouth of Andrea Ladányi (Vergilius). Why did you choose this solution?

- Vergilius is the past, he is archaic, he is knowledge, an archaic added text is something that suits him the most . Originally, Ilona Béres would have been Vergilius, who herself embodies the authenticity that is in decline. It’s almost impossible to find someone similar to her, but unfortunately she became ill. I couldn't risk her health. Vergilius, the leader, had to be formulated by a personality who is authentic, who communicates, who believes that the power of the spoken word is enough. Andrea Ladányi is someone who can do that, she doesn't want to meet anyone’s expectations. I'm fantastically happy with her.

- Please talk about the cathartic scene when Lucifer, frozen in ice, caressing his Judas in the depths of hell!

- It’s a Pieta scene, a cruel flick, an evident code. I don’t want to explain, the interpretation has to happen in the spectator. It’s not my job to serve the stupidity. I have to irritate, poke the spectator to be angry, to feel something, to feel like arguing, to talk about it. In that scene, both characters are me, just as Dante is both characters as he even patterned all the characters about himself. The embracing and repelling, Judas and Lucifer. I (or you) are Dante, writhing between a profane and a saint. The choice is ours, it is a personal responsibility in life. The other thing is destructivism, which is incomprehensible to many. For example, when we draw a mandala in sand and then sweep it away. Many do not understand this because art, attention, and communication lack generosity.

- Hölderlin’s Empedocles was the piece that drew my attention to you, a brilliant work of art, perhaps the best I’ve ever seen on stage.

- Yet half of the critical class withdrew. They didn't want to slow down and watch. It was unacceptable to them that they thought it had no story and did not have the quiet depth that it would have needed to receive it. It was a terrible effort for the actors in Empedocles to move slowly and speak quickly meanwhile. This is terribly difficult. I’ve always been excited about the genre of motionless movement. Of course, they didn't really know what to do with it. That’s why I staged Ostrovsky's The Tempest afterwards. I did the story there, but like never before, no one before. I put it all together in a studio, with spotlights that illuminated the performance live. I used the music of Leos Janácek's opera for all this. I have always been interested in the relationship between text and music. But there was no culture for that! Not even among those who call themselves analysts.

- Are you listening to criticism anyway?

- No. The stupidity is making me terribly furious. I was also disappointed in many young people who started out as being comets, but they also lined up. There is not much real communication either. The way so many talk about theater is incomprehensible for me many times. Theater needs to be made risky and bold, experimenting. For example in the case of Dante they were outraged by limited shapes we show, but it's a geometric work! I didn't invent that.

- What else inspires you?

- I always dream and I remember all of them. I use my dreams and my memory is excellent. The actors can turn out of their world, that I always remember what I asked them to do. It also makes them feel safe, but it is difficult to conform to this coordinate system.

- Can you usually make the concepts, the dreams become reality?

- For the most part, yes. I never had to compromise. I never had to work with an actor I didn’t want to, or direct a piece I didn’t want. If something didn't quite work out, it did not depend on my will, but on my knowledge, then and there I was not yet prepared for it.

- Isn’t it tiring as a company leader that in addition to directing, you are the face, the hand, the heart, with all the good and bad consequences of that?

- It’s hard but not tiring because I have a lot of joy in it. I’m a father figure, I know, but I have friends in the company, not my service staff. That's good. There was a time when I overtook myself, pampered them, but things turned around. We now combine conscious, purposeful work with permissive, loose, light, improvisational and risky elements.

- Do both of these feel casual for you?

- Of course. At the age of twelve I lost everything, my homeland, my friends, after that I had nothing to lose. I have no respect for authority. I don't care about the canon. I'm not scared or stressed. As a teacher I rather prefer to talk, to stimulate the students to think, I want to see personalities, something.

- When did you decide you wanted to do theater?

- I didn't want to do theater. I wanted to laugh a lot, to have a good time, that was the plan, but life drove me to the theater, because there was joy and clowning in it too. Then I did the Conservatoire in Paris and learned the method there. However, I did not lose this joy; if that would be the case, it would be over.

- How would your 17-18 year old self like you now, at the age of 33?

- I didn’t lose that young self of mine, I’m the same as I was when I was six. I'm as "evil" as I was then. I’ve always wondered how to get people out of their usual frames. I still do that.

Anna Nikoletta Nagy, kultblog.hu, 2011

Translation by Zsuzsanna Juraszek

The Maladype Theatre is ten years old. The company celebrates its anniversary with Dante’s Divine Comedy. We talked about the first part, the performance of Inferno with director Zoltán Balázs.

- Why did you choose Dante’s huge work to think about the ten years you lived with Maladype?

- Because at the heart of this large-scale travel story is the author himself, Dante, who, as a self-righteous and dedicated person, sets high standards for himself and his then current environment. Its creative path is a road lined with depths and heights, and going down to hell is inevitable. Ten-year-old Maladype, like Dante, has consistently followed its path throughout, striving to be an independent company capable of redefining itself in all circumstances. “Over-the-counter” authors like Weöres, Ghelderode, Genet, Hölderlin or Wyspianski are no strangers to us. Dante's authorial behavior, the worldview and language of his Divine Comedy, fits well into our repertoire, as artistic and poetic texts have long been natural sources of our stage language. The space of Trafó meant the main challenge for us, because compared to our permanent performing venue, Maladype Base - which is a civic apartment with white walls and natural light conditions in Mikszáth Square - we have to play Inferno between the black walls and a stage space illuminated by spotlights. In recent years Maladype got far away from these types of artistic spaces, so it’s especially challenging to rediscover and “settle in”. As a director, I’ve had the opportunity to work in a wide variety of theater spaces, but I’m really happy with Maladype’s own playground, the Base, where I can rehearse in an environment free of classic theatrical traditions every day, close to people’s everyday lives. The consequence of this close relationship with the audience is that we can work with twenty-five volunteers and civil actors in Inferno.

- Maladype Base hosts full-day workshops on Sundays called the Free Academy. Can we say that now you take the stage with your own audience?

- Not really, as these civil actors are not the same as those who attend the Free Academy. We have a wide variety of spectators: those who have come to the open rehearsals of King Ubu, those who have attended the Free Academy, and those who have been loyal supporters of the company for years. The civils who are playing with us in Inferno have applied for an audition we announced three months ago; we were looking for enterprising people who would like to be “sinful souls” in our upcoming performance entitled Inferno. A lot of people applied, but in the end only twenty-five civils got a place, because together with the five Maladype actors, they form a chorus of thirty people during the game, which exactly matches my original concept. Since I usually have pretty definite ideas about my upcoming performances, the volunteers also had to follow precise directing and choreographic instructions. They worked with discipline and great devotion, which is necessary and essential for this teamwork.

- How did you select the volunteers?

- We selected primarily based on the condition of the applicants: imbalance problems, memory impairment, coordination deficiencies, etc. We soon also screened out those who could not distinguish their right hand from the left. Older and younger people are playing with us in the performance, for whom we have to take equal responsibility. I considered it very important that in Inferno real people should “being punished” because in my reading, Dante meets figures in the underworld who still have a great zest for life. Each of them longs for Dante to bring news about them to the world of the living.

- Andrea Ladányi was given the role of Virgil, how did you choose her?

- Originally it was meant to be played by Ilona Béres, with whom I had agreed on the role of Vergilius a year ago. At the time, at the beginning of Maladype, we worked together wonderfully in Theomachia, and I was really looking forward to the opportunity to work together again. After Kronos, who was the protagonist of Weöres' play, it was not easy to find a role for Ilona that could be a worthy offer for her in the case of another work together. When I decided that we would mark our jubilee with Dante’s Divine Comedy, I immediately called her with the role of Vergilius, and she happily said yes. Unfortunately, Ilona's health has been shaken ever since, so we were unable to begin the rehearsal process together. After that, I had very little time left to find the exceptional personality who could authenticate the figure of Vergilius with her own person. I saw Andrea Ladányi in The Visit and I thought she was fantastic. She is a very straightforward, lean, but sensitive personality who, as evidenced by her own life and art, is able to lead a man who still has a lot to learn and who needs a true master in the process. Andrea is a real master. And Zénó Faragó, who plays Dante, is a real student.

- In the person of Zénó Faragó, you assigned the lead role of the evening to an actor who has recently joined the Maladype Theatre.

- I chose him because he is young, dynamic and remarkable, he looks very much like Dante on the outside as well. I first worked with him in Timisoara on the Return of Ulysses, and I saw an extraordinary opportunity in him, as also in Erika Tankó. Now they are both members of the company. Since we’ve been working together for a year now and I see that the self-digestive processes in Zénó have started and now these seem to come together, I decided to entrust him with Dante’s figure. He is a curious figure who wants to know, to face. At the bottom of Inferno, frozen in ice, Lucifer tears Cassius, Brutus, and Judas, the three traitors. Judas is a symbolic, unavoidable figure that a determined creator must meet or face sooner or later. You have to ask yourself if you want to be Judas yourself. Do you want to be a traitor and a denier of the principles, ideas, goals, and plans you set for yourself at the beginning of your career and in which you ever believed with your full being. Do you want to see yourself frozen in the ice, or can you dodge the traps waiting for you in time? That's what this trip of Dante is all about.

- You also use two translations in the performance: the classic work of Mihály Babits and the translation of Ádám Nádasdy finished for the sake of the performance.

- The language and wording of the translation of Mihály Babits and Ádám Nádasdy give the verbal tension and excitement of the performance. Andrea Ladányi speaks “Babits” as Vergilius, and the other actors speak “Nádasdy”. In addition to the two translations, guest texts by Thomas Mann and Paolo Santarcangeli can also be heard. Dante’s work is basically a narrative text, full of self-reflections that we, according to our concept, had to dramatize and supplement with various scenic and acoustic solutions to turn it into more direct and vivid material during the performance.

- Kornél Mogyoró and Ákos Kerényi will play various percussion instruments and two Japanese taiko drums.

- I have always considered the relationship between text and music important, the symbiosis of the two gives the rhythm, score and unique composition of Maladype’s performances. Just as space and time have a musicality, so human speech and music have a temporal and spatial extent. Geometric enjoyment. Whenever I thought of Inferno, I always heard the pounding of huge Japanese drums in my head.

- The silence of the soundproof hell, from which the wailing sound is not heard, and the deafening inner throbbing of the huge drums can create a great tension...

- There is always a lot of hustle and bustle in the human mind, between the “soundproof walls”, accompanied by many small voices, encouragement and instruction. Inferno is the mental restlessness. We all know Rodin’s Gate, at the top of it the famous figure of the French sculptor, the curled up Thinker, looking for the frontier of thought. To set the human mind in motion, to free its spirit, is the bravest, greatest, but also the most dangerous thing. Dante made an attempt on this in his work. In our performance, we don’t want to compete with the crowds of Bosch images or the sight of horror movies, sci-fi, our vision is a clearer, people-centered game with a worldview of Leonardo.

Anna Magda Fehér, ellenfeny.hu, 2011

Translation by Zsuzsanna Juraszek

Zoltán Balázs, the founder and director of the now ten-year-old Maladype Theatre is characterized by the vivid look in his eyes, a fast pace of speech, expressive wordins as he talks about the successes of the company so far, its struggling present, its innovative plans and introduces us to the special world of undeservedly underfunded independent companies.

- In terms of operations, which companies can Maladype be grouped into?

- With those that actually exist as a company like Maladype, they operate as a permanent theater and can provide their actors regular payment and continuous professional development.

- As an independent theater you have been categorized within the meaning of the Performing Arts Act, VI., because you are an independent theater that has been in operation for more than two years and cannot be categorized in the other five categories. How much public support did you receive compared to the rest of the category?

- Unfortunately, it is not clear within the theatrical sphere exactly what conditions an independent theatrical operation with a permanent company must meet. It is no coincidence that there are nearly 150 registered organizations in Category VI, but no one knows what they really are and who they are. No one can list 150 registered and truly operating companies because there are none! A total of approx. there are ten theaters that are active thematically, systematically, developing and maintaining their own repertoire and providing regular monthly salaries to their members. As a registered organization, we were heavily supported with 28 million last year, and only 22 million this year, 36% of which have been blocked forever.

- Why did Maladype get less money this year?

- Good question! I can't explain it - unless there is a personal dislike in the background - because with our operation so far we have not only fulfilled what we described and undertook in our previous year's tender, but also proved it. We have our own performing venue, the Maladype Base (Mikszáth tér 2.), we have become regular guests at international festivals, we have premiered two new performances (Platonov, The marriage of Figaro) and we have established the Free Academy. We have been in a very difficult position with the reduction in subsidies, and I believe that those who have not carried out the selection between companies in good time and to a large extent can do a great deal; the board of trustees, which could not or did not dare to make a responsible decision, which did not undertake to place a maximum of ten independent companies in a prominent position on the theater palette. It seems that what matters to decision-makers is who has what in the past, how much scope they have professionally at home and abroad, and what concrete and viable plans they have for the future. I also consider the ten years behind us to be a great achievement because, in this inability to regulate, Maladype has not only been able to survive but even develop.

- How can you bring your current standards and keep improving when you live day by day?

- Our theater has two strong pillars, actors and spectators. Their relationship drives our performances. Spectators who watch our performances not only at home but also abroad, and possibly attend the Free Academy, will soon get in close and personal contact with us. It is a kind of unspoken contract between Maladype artists and the citizens of society. Due to this, our responsibility to each other is also increasing. We try to move forward and evolve year after year so that the spectator can accompany us on this journey as well. Thus, the common language "grows old" with us. However, this language cannot be created afterwards, but can only be created there, together, minute by minute.

- Based on what has been said, it can be assumed that a theater, which, thanks to secure subsidies, is guaranteed to keep it running, does not seek to keep in touch with the audience. Is that really so?

- Yes, because it’s not in their interest to get in closer contact with their audience. It is a tiring and time consuming process. The relationship between actors and spectators can be significantly changed if we are patient, consistent, and demanding of each other. In recent decades, thanks to Hungarian theatrical conventions, the spectator has accepted that he can only be an “observer” of a performance and in the dark, he can discreetly watch the actor on the stage. It is due to this (also) that the theater has become an aquarium over time. The auditorium can explode, and the actor continues to play the same as if nothing had happened. That’s why I think it’s important that the presence of the spectator influences the actors and impinges on them. Of course, this should be also true the other way around.

- With a little exaggeration, can spectators be divided into two groups: those who take on the role of passive observer and those who want to become part of the creative process?

- With great exaggeration... We were also approached by spectators who had never seen a Maladype performance before and did not know what kind of Leonce and Lena they would see, but when they overcame the shock of the first ten minutes, they became a devoted, enthusiastic audience. Today, these spectators make up a significant portion of our core audience. There is no recipe for this.

- Where do you get the strength and inspiration to invent and pass it on as well new things to inspire others?

- From the world around me, my co-creators and myself. The changes that inspire me the most are prompting me to redefine everything I already think I know. I want others to do the same. I want to make clearer and bolder ‘offers’ to my partners so that we can put together a theater that we all want.

- What do you mean by that?

- I would like actors and spectators to use more precise concepts and more appropriate words when describing a shared experience. I want them not only to be able to talk about their feelings, impressions and opinions in a general and timid way, but also to be able to interpret, analyze and evaluate what they have seen, the events they have lived together.

- As a charismatic leader, you demand constant attention and improvement at all times and a constant 100% presence. How long can the actors withstand this pace and load? Aren't they in danger of burning out?

- I would consider it a dangerous thing not to work with people and artists who see constant concentration and constant redefinition as their personal beliefs and inner need. If the nervous system gets tired, it is followed by physical accidents. In Maladype, every performance from Leonce to Egg(s)Hell is very dangerous. In addition to 100% energy investment and work pace, we also need to use relaxation techniques. If the internal balance tilts a little, a huge accident can occur. The most important thing is not to be willers and not wanting to prove. We enjoy what we do and want to pass on the joy of thinking together and playing together.

- You have regular processing conversations within the company. You have to imagine this by dealing with everyone individually, you ask how they experienced that particular performance?

- Exactly. It is extremely important that we have to be aware of our own “temptations” and dare to act against them. We also encourage our spectators to do so at our performances, audience meetings and at the Free Academy. All of this is part of the inaugural theater program that began with the open rehearsals of King Ubu two years ago. We were the first in Hungary to create a performance by doing a rehearsal process with the audience from the reading rehearsal to the presentation. Of course, all this could only be done if the actors were prepared, enterprising, used their creative energy, did not spasm and the audience was also a good partner for the basic idea. I know that other theaters have since tried this method.

- In Maladype performances, you often encourage the audience to actively participate.

- This is not an alien phenomenon. Ancient Greek theaters were built so that the backs of the spectators could touch the knees behind them. Thus, the spread of the resonance of the stimulus from laughter or crying was felt by everyone. Why not apply it too? The problem with “peephole” theaters is that this deeper and more direct connection cannot be established between the spectator and the actor. The spectator longs for sensual game, not just cultural experience, spiritual excitement. If I, as a practicing theater director, can’t articulate these thoughts and discoveries to myself, then I have no right to ask anything from the actor. And if the actor can’t even articulate himself, he has no right to expect anything from the spectator either. Conversely, if the spectator can’t articulate why he liked or didn’t like a performance or a solution, he can’t hold the artist accountable for anything.

- Thinking and knowledge is a huge and irreplaceable tool on the part of both actors and spectators.

- That's right. If someone doesn’t think, we can do whatever we want with him - we’re not dangerous. On the other hand, if you think about it, you might ask about certain connections that are unpleasant for us and we have to answer - it’s dangerous.

- Can you feel its consequences in the case of financial support of independent theaters?

- Of course. Independence is dangerous because it cannot be grasped and limited, it has an opinion, it is independent and reflexive, it cannot be inserted anywhere.

Founded in 2002, the Maladype Theatre operates with a permanent company and co-creators. Maladype is an independent theater that sustains itself solely from tender funds. However, its “independence” is not only the essence of its organizational form, but also of its spirituality and ideas about theater. It is characterized by a special theatrical language and way of thinking. It relies mainly on concentrated workshop work, intense acting and continuous communication with the audience. Zoltán Balázs, director and artistic director leads the theater, of which eight permanent actors are members. They play 15-17 times a month.

Orsolya Szabó, Műhely, 2011

Translation by Zsuzsanna Juraszek

Zoltán Balázs offers a divine, dynamic performance to the audience of the Andrej Bagar Theater in Nitra. According to Shakespeare the world's a stage, while English playwright Arnold Wesker says all the world’s a kitchen. A kitchen in which people with different mindsets, emotions, habits, nationalities, religions work, and their microworld is a reflection of an entire society.

- Zoltán Balázs, the founder, director and director of the Maladype Theatre in Budapest, who "opened" The Kitchen, Arnold Wesker's piece completed in 1959 at the end of last week with the young team of the Andrej Bagar Theater in Nitra, has been preparing for this work for a long time.

- A few years ago, a great project was born based on the idea of ​​Darina Kárová. Six Central and Eastern European directors were given the opportunity to show something in twenty-five minutes. This had such a reception that Darina asked me to direct the Egg(s)Hell in Nitra. Since they couldn’t finance it later, we performed it at home and we’ve already played the fiftieth performance. However, we didn’t discard the possibility of working together. Ján Greššo, the director of the theater in Nitra, watched several of our performances in Budapest, and seeing the Egg(s)Hell, he said he wanted something like that. I already knew then: that’s not possible, because to do that, actors have to know a lot of things beforehand. A performance like that requires a special language, and even three years wouldn’t be enough for that, not to talk about two months. But I promised that if my time allowed, because my life is very busy, I would come up with something that could offer a very strong teamwork with the actors here.

- And so the choice fell on the piece entitled The Kitchen written by a world-renowned London based author of Hungarian origin on the maternal side.

"This piece has been exciting me for a long time," says Zoltán Balázs. - I did not understand why this is a great success from Amsterdam to Madrid, from Helsinki to Athens, from Paris to Rio de Janeiro, because the situation itself, the plot of the piece is actually very simple. There is a kitchen in a large restaurant where people, chefs and waiters cook and whine together. We can't talk about the development of characters with dramatic weight, the situations are two or three sentences, yet the piece itself puts the company, the actors' nervous system, mental condition and physical abilities to the test. Since now I had two months when I could leave my company safe at home, as Sándor Zsótér directed The marriage of Figaro with them, I said I would undertake. But it has been under planning for two years. Meanwhile, we starred here with the Egg(s)Hell, we had great success, which led the director to that belief that a co-production should be created. However, Fico’s party was not very happy that the Hungarians were about to come last year, so the plan was blown away. But because the theater in Nitra was very adamant that at least the staff would come, I said, until Figaro is born at home, I will work here with my people. Last year I worked in France, then in Timisoara, now here in Nitra, and next year I'm going to Switzerland, but Maladype is always in the first place. However, I also need new impulses, new encounters to make a check-up on my own operation.

- The result of a two-month rehearsing process is The Kitchen in Nitra, and although it will shine like a gem on the theatre's repertoire, Zoltán Balázs knows that there is still something to polish.

- We only had one rehearsal a day, as the actors play here every night, but they were very adorable, because we worked a little extra during stolen times in the afternoons. Being an energetic, strong person, I really enjoyed working with this talented team. With the help of Sylvia Huszár, who was my colleague, my interpreter in staging the work, I learned a lot in Slovak, and my dynamism and energy permeated even the safest actor. We didn’t sit at the table for two weeks for analysis, we didn’t chew the putty, we took action right away. Try it, do it, grab it! There was no time to whine, to philosophize, in this system the actor does not have to think about it, here it is necessary to move, to do it, to absorb the situation with its physique and presence, and to put energy into it easily and unnoticed. Seventeen actors play head-to-head, which is certainly strange to the audience here. They are not used to parallel actions, only to single-line things. Seventeen people work here at once and they are lavish in what they offer choreographically.

- "The theater has made a big sacrifice for this performance," says the thirty-three-year-old director. He had to break many rules that were his own. The community cannot do more for a performance, an artistic work than to give up itself and adopt a new style with maximum force, says Zoltán Balázs.

- The actors who play in The Kitchen have come a long way, they haven’t even gotten to where we’re heading together, but they’re already heading in the right direction. Although our joint work ended with the premiere, we are actually starting now. I leave happily, because the company has done a tremendous job, the actors are juggling, braving, but which I am also proud of: they have not betrayed me, they have stood by me all the way, and I know that the performance has a perspective. And not only did they learn, I also gained a lot of experience with them, which I can now turn back into the “common”: to Maladype.

László G. Szabó, Új Szó, 2011

Translation by: Zsuzsanna Juraszek