The viewers can decide what they would play.

Everything, which cannon happen during the new performance of Maladype troupe in the Bárka Theatre, can be as important as or even more important than that has happened. Let’s begin with the fact, that during a night we can see almost four or three part of that, which the performers have made in connection with the parodist-like grimace of Leonce and Lena by Büchner. The four male actors have prepared for all the male roles, the four women for the female characters, more exactly they have made variations for all the scenes of play in all the casts, which have been formed that way. According to the original idea some kind of race would decide who, when and what will play. Maybe it would be a little bit similar to that process as some years ago Tim Caroll directed Hamlet in the same building, with Zoltán Balázs as the main character, who then organised too the performance from night to night mostly based on improvisation. Now he orders the happenings as a director and he has a role similar to a presenter.

The idea has changed by the time of the premiere. There is not any race, the actors cannot decide what to play, but the viewers can, but they are ordered effectively by the director-presenter. The choice is a pig in a poke of course. The viewers can be interested in any different version of the scenes if they on the one hand they would know the play well, on the other hand they would know many things about the performers. It is hardly expectable from the public. The attraction of unknown can make the well-prepared machine work soon. The process is absurd but to question it, that is absurd too. It is a pig in a poke that it is all. We choose the poke that way we cannot know whether an angry, wild and black animal or a calmly, nice and white one comes out of it.

And above all, we cannot know what remains in the unopened pokes. At least we can imagine it. The scene variations, we have seen, indicate strong, uniform taste. On a light coloured podium, the performers are standing in lines on the two sides, wearing black tops and trousers, which can be pulled up until their neck, behind them in two lines there are wonderful bamboo sticks, and there is Kornél Mogyoró with drums, stroh violin and other tools to make noise. They sometimes connect or even replace the exciting text with passionate or acrobatic gymnastic feats. The tension can be raised from time to time by balancing difficulties. The bamboo sticks want their roles too. Anyway, besides the hard work and strong concentration the aesthetic performance, which cannot be questioned, can impress the viewers sooner or later. Then we have not mentioned yet those moments, when traditional performance of actors, humour flash through the unique set of signs. On the premiere, between the numerous hard working parts, Éva Bakos’ silent monologue and her smile that sneering the lady’s desire for love, and Katalin Simkó devoting self-torture stand out.

The real lack are not those numerous variations, which cannot be performed during a night. But what Zoltán Balázs stated too on the premiere: he though it unnecessary to put one another interpretation to the numerous ones of the play. So instead of performing the play, the are playing with it. They did not care about the different, possible solutions of the simple story, about its imaginable contents, above all, they did not want to put into a united order, the small secrets of the text. They were just looking for the possibilities of playing in it – so it is not so important, who, when and how many can see from it.

We can say that this playfulness is pointless, and that here is the end of theatre. But even that here is its beginning.

László Zappe, Népszabadság, 2008

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)