Total art puzzle - Interview with Zoltán Balázs / 2017
Interview with Zoltán Balázs, theatre director and artistic director of Maladype Theatre, ahead of the premiere of Csongor and Tünde, which will be presented in the 54th season of the Gyula Castle Theatre.
Zoltán Balázs graduated from the drama department of the Horváth Mihály High School in Szentes in 1995. In 2003, he graduated from the University of Theatre and Film Arts with a degree in acting and directing in Miklós Benedek's class. His first production with Maladype Theatre was Eugene Ionesco's Jack or the Submission in 2001, when the theatre was just starting out. His latest Maladype production was Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's Three Sisters in 2017.
At the same time, you have already directed Eugene Ionesco again this year (The Lesson - University of Theatre and Film Arts). Do you like framed structures?
So much so that when I played Richard III here in Gyula on July 14, I realized that I had played Hamlet here on the exact same day 11 years ago.
That's right, you've encountered Shakespeare before in Gyula, as you were here for the 10th Shakespeare Festival in 2014 in connection with Macbeth/Anatomy, and in 2006 you played the title role in Tim Carroll's (artistic director of London's Globe Theatre) iconic production of Hamlet. This time you are not performing, but staging an expansive dramatic poem. Where did the idea for the adaptation of Csongor and Tünde come from? How can the story of the search for happiness be staged in a new way?
Only adventurous artists should be allowed to stage Vörösmarty's play; artists who are not interested in creating solutions, end results, or canonizable performances, but for whom the search for happiness itself is a kind of quest – a creative quest, or a reckoning with themselves. Where do I come from, where am I going, and who am I traveling with on this special, unique journey?
Could this reckoning have something to do with the fact that you turned 40 this year?
It has a lot to do with it, because a much-awaited period of my life is coming: those mature years, when the experiences I have accumulated over the past years can take me into new dimensions. The cosmology of Csongor and Tünde is extremely suitable for taking stock, as the encounter between the profane and sacred worldviews expressed in it is also relevant in our current world. This is accompanied by opportunities to meet rebellious directors, authors, actors, and audiences, from which a new self will emerge.
Your conscious departure from the canon has also influenced your previous productions. What is the reason behind this?
Irregularity is a very powerful driving force. Vörösmarty takes his characters through 11 stations in an incredibly precise, Dante-esque manner, in a cone-shaped structure. In my opinion, the two main units are Csongor's falling asleep and Tünde's "awakening." At the same time, the two roles are one; you cannot separate the outside from the inside, the here from the there, the above from the below. Balancing the points of tension is the noblest task. According to my concept, these levels are concentrated in one actress, Ágota Szilágyi, and my perspective tends to reinforce Tünde's story and role. The main point is not the lovers' pursuit of each other, although the search for this form of happiness is obviously present. Tünde's attitude generates an act of creation, which is realized in the image of Csongor. The fundamental question of the performance is therefore how a person finds themselves, how they become aware of their self-consciousness. The possibility of playing a dual role is not thought through in terms of male and female clothing or gender roles; the costume does not help the actor, whose inward journey, along a surface of intense concentration, draws in those watching the story and the transformation.
So, besides "irregularity," the other key word is "transformation"?
Yes, that's also a basic concept. A character doesn't just go from A to B, but through many selves to the essence, the realization of which—due to the struggle and suffering in between—is happiness itself. This, of course, has to do with love, as we often idealize the “one and only” throughout our lives, while they have been sitting right next to us all along, unnoticed, while life passed us by.
Although you are still young, you have already achieved a lot. You are the artistic director of Maladype Theatre, and in your training method “The Golden Bug-method”, you combine common, symbolic, and magical storylines with a new type of knowledge acquisition inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe. You draw parallels between the Self and the Other, the animus and the anima, the Woman and the Man, Csongor and Tünde. In what space and time can all this be imagined?
In an imaginary space, purely on an imaginary plane. The story is sufficiently multi-layered so that there is no need to focus on an actual space. Since I have been on every stage in Gyula, it was not a priority for the actors to run up and down, even though the castle has a natural atmosphere and is a very playable space. In addition, the audience only understands and feels the story quite vaguely. I don't mean it in a derogatory way, but we cannot expect them to be aware of every nuance. The primary task, therefore, is to tell them the story, with all its little tricks and refinements. The storylines are intertwined like a DNA spiral. I don't want to be didactic, but it is a fundamental directorial, professional, and primary intention to make the backbone of the story recognizable and followable, yet at the same time, I don't want to make it too easy for the audience by spoon-feeding them. I didn't want to include any unnecessary gimmicks—say, three ducks or nine frogs—because I don't like them, and what we find funny at first glance may not necessarily be funny to the audience. Even so, it will be exciting enough to untangle the threads of this play. I've been working on it for years, and I'm madly in love with this work.
If I’m not mistaken, it’s not your first time directing a play where the main character is a traveller.
Indeed, I've staged works that involve symbolic journeys, such as the works of Dante, Homer, and Goethe, so I'm not afraid that lyrical dramas lack dynamic storylines or a sequence of events. Csongor and Tünde also has countless stereotypes associated with it, and in a positive sense, a kind of silliness that offers some pressure to conform in the portrayal of the devil's sons, Tünde, Mirigy, and the three wanderers, but this is not the focus of my production.
Then what is?
Basically, that those who seek shall find, and this is also true of happiness; the charm lies in the journey itself, in the Madáchian sense. Therefore, it is not primarily the chronology, the identifiability of the characters, or analytical thinking that becomes important, but rather the cooperative interplay of the audience, the Gyula Castle Theatre, and the Maladype Theatre on the level of sensuality and perceptibility. I believe that so many emotional impulses will come together here that they will create a kind of tingling sensation in the audience.
Could you give us a little preview?
The program notes specify that László Sáry, winner of the Artisjus Prize, and fashion designer Anikó Németh worked with me on the production, with Andrea Lengyel as rehearsal pianist and Katalin Balázs as production manager. The cast features excellent performances by Ágota Szilágyi, Marianna Sipos, Erika Tankó, László Kéringer, János Fekete "Jammal," Viktória Denk, Zsigmond Bödők, Lóránd Bartha, and Eszter Balogh. Although Sáry also composes opera, the musical accompaniment in this piece follows a beatbox puzzle. The adaptation is absolutely not classical, but neither is it "fake contemporary", in the sense that it does not include eight movements at all costs in order to be abstract. I would certainly not use the words "strange" and "interesting" in connection with the performance, although Vörösmarty's original work is grotesque, cynical, ironic, and bizarre in many places. I tried to find the overlapping planes of thought by combining them in a total art puzzle, which ultimately and hopefully results in the harmony of the text, the visuals, the movement, and the opera music.
As director of Maladype Theatre, you have always strived for groundbreaking harmony and innovative productions. Your previous works are available on the theatre's website, which I highly recommend for further information, as it was named the best theatre website of the season in 2017 and received the award at the National Theatre Meeting in Pécs. Your current production is a collaboration with the Gyula Castle Theatre. Every year, there is more and more attention when you accept an invitation to stage a play. How did you receive this commission?
We try to meet all requests, as it is one of the basic tasks of the theatre to be audience-friendly, both in its performances and in its accessibility. If Marianna Varga hadn't approached me, my desire to stage this work might have lingered within me, but her timing was perfect, as “I have searched in every nation, / every land upon the earth, / for that infinitely rare / beauty, far beyond belief, / for the lady of my dreams.”[1] Thanks to this commission, I was able to do the reckoning and I felt ready to stage this play.
Thank you for this refreshing and informative, friendly conversation. I wish you every success with the play and, of course, in the future! During your stay here, I wish you and the company a pleasant time in Gyula!
Thank you for the opportunity. We look forward to seeing everyone at the play on August 11, 2017, at 8:30 p.m.!
Gyulai Hírlap, 2017
Translated by Lena Megyeri
[1] Mihály Vörösmarty: The Quest - Csongor and Tünde. Translated by Peter Zollman
Zoltán Balázs graduated from the drama department of the Horváth Mihály High School in Szentes in 1995. In 2003, he graduated from the University of Theatre and Film Arts with a degree in acting and directing in Miklós Benedek's class. His first production with Maladype Theatre was Eugene Ionesco's Jack or the Submission in 2001, when the theatre was just starting out. His latest Maladype production was Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's Three Sisters in 2017.
At the same time, you have already directed Eugene Ionesco again this year (The Lesson - University of Theatre and Film Arts). Do you like framed structures?
So much so that when I played Richard III here in Gyula on July 14, I realized that I had played Hamlet here on the exact same day 11 years ago.
That's right, you've encountered Shakespeare before in Gyula, as you were here for the 10th Shakespeare Festival in 2014 in connection with Macbeth/Anatomy, and in 2006 you played the title role in Tim Carroll's (artistic director of London's Globe Theatre) iconic production of Hamlet. This time you are not performing, but staging an expansive dramatic poem. Where did the idea for the adaptation of Csongor and Tünde come from? How can the story of the search for happiness be staged in a new way?
Only adventurous artists should be allowed to stage Vörösmarty's play; artists who are not interested in creating solutions, end results, or canonizable performances, but for whom the search for happiness itself is a kind of quest – a creative quest, or a reckoning with themselves. Where do I come from, where am I going, and who am I traveling with on this special, unique journey?
Could this reckoning have something to do with the fact that you turned 40 this year?
It has a lot to do with it, because a much-awaited period of my life is coming: those mature years, when the experiences I have accumulated over the past years can take me into new dimensions. The cosmology of Csongor and Tünde is extremely suitable for taking stock, as the encounter between the profane and sacred worldviews expressed in it is also relevant in our current world. This is accompanied by opportunities to meet rebellious directors, authors, actors, and audiences, from which a new self will emerge.
Your conscious departure from the canon has also influenced your previous productions. What is the reason behind this?
Irregularity is a very powerful driving force. Vörösmarty takes his characters through 11 stations in an incredibly precise, Dante-esque manner, in a cone-shaped structure. In my opinion, the two main units are Csongor's falling asleep and Tünde's "awakening." At the same time, the two roles are one; you cannot separate the outside from the inside, the here from the there, the above from the below. Balancing the points of tension is the noblest task. According to my concept, these levels are concentrated in one actress, Ágota Szilágyi, and my perspective tends to reinforce Tünde's story and role. The main point is not the lovers' pursuit of each other, although the search for this form of happiness is obviously present. Tünde's attitude generates an act of creation, which is realized in the image of Csongor. The fundamental question of the performance is therefore how a person finds themselves, how they become aware of their self-consciousness. The possibility of playing a dual role is not thought through in terms of male and female clothing or gender roles; the costume does not help the actor, whose inward journey, along a surface of intense concentration, draws in those watching the story and the transformation.
So, besides "irregularity," the other key word is "transformation"?
Yes, that's also a basic concept. A character doesn't just go from A to B, but through many selves to the essence, the realization of which—due to the struggle and suffering in between—is happiness itself. This, of course, has to do with love, as we often idealize the “one and only” throughout our lives, while they have been sitting right next to us all along, unnoticed, while life passed us by.
Although you are still young, you have already achieved a lot. You are the artistic director of Maladype Theatre, and in your training method “The Golden Bug-method”, you combine common, symbolic, and magical storylines with a new type of knowledge acquisition inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe. You draw parallels between the Self and the Other, the animus and the anima, the Woman and the Man, Csongor and Tünde. In what space and time can all this be imagined?
In an imaginary space, purely on an imaginary plane. The story is sufficiently multi-layered so that there is no need to focus on an actual space. Since I have been on every stage in Gyula, it was not a priority for the actors to run up and down, even though the castle has a natural atmosphere and is a very playable space. In addition, the audience only understands and feels the story quite vaguely. I don't mean it in a derogatory way, but we cannot expect them to be aware of every nuance. The primary task, therefore, is to tell them the story, with all its little tricks and refinements. The storylines are intertwined like a DNA spiral. I don't want to be didactic, but it is a fundamental directorial, professional, and primary intention to make the backbone of the story recognizable and followable, yet at the same time, I don't want to make it too easy for the audience by spoon-feeding them. I didn't want to include any unnecessary gimmicks—say, three ducks or nine frogs—because I don't like them, and what we find funny at first glance may not necessarily be funny to the audience. Even so, it will be exciting enough to untangle the threads of this play. I've been working on it for years, and I'm madly in love with this work.
If I’m not mistaken, it’s not your first time directing a play where the main character is a traveller.
Indeed, I've staged works that involve symbolic journeys, such as the works of Dante, Homer, and Goethe, so I'm not afraid that lyrical dramas lack dynamic storylines or a sequence of events. Csongor and Tünde also has countless stereotypes associated with it, and in a positive sense, a kind of silliness that offers some pressure to conform in the portrayal of the devil's sons, Tünde, Mirigy, and the three wanderers, but this is not the focus of my production.
Then what is?
Basically, that those who seek shall find, and this is also true of happiness; the charm lies in the journey itself, in the Madáchian sense. Therefore, it is not primarily the chronology, the identifiability of the characters, or analytical thinking that becomes important, but rather the cooperative interplay of the audience, the Gyula Castle Theatre, and the Maladype Theatre on the level of sensuality and perceptibility. I believe that so many emotional impulses will come together here that they will create a kind of tingling sensation in the audience.
Could you give us a little preview?
The program notes specify that László Sáry, winner of the Artisjus Prize, and fashion designer Anikó Németh worked with me on the production, with Andrea Lengyel as rehearsal pianist and Katalin Balázs as production manager. The cast features excellent performances by Ágota Szilágyi, Marianna Sipos, Erika Tankó, László Kéringer, János Fekete "Jammal," Viktória Denk, Zsigmond Bödők, Lóránd Bartha, and Eszter Balogh. Although Sáry also composes opera, the musical accompaniment in this piece follows a beatbox puzzle. The adaptation is absolutely not classical, but neither is it "fake contemporary", in the sense that it does not include eight movements at all costs in order to be abstract. I would certainly not use the words "strange" and "interesting" in connection with the performance, although Vörösmarty's original work is grotesque, cynical, ironic, and bizarre in many places. I tried to find the overlapping planes of thought by combining them in a total art puzzle, which ultimately and hopefully results in the harmony of the text, the visuals, the movement, and the opera music.
As director of Maladype Theatre, you have always strived for groundbreaking harmony and innovative productions. Your previous works are available on the theatre's website, which I highly recommend for further information, as it was named the best theatre website of the season in 2017 and received the award at the National Theatre Meeting in Pécs. Your current production is a collaboration with the Gyula Castle Theatre. Every year, there is more and more attention when you accept an invitation to stage a play. How did you receive this commission?
We try to meet all requests, as it is one of the basic tasks of the theatre to be audience-friendly, both in its performances and in its accessibility. If Marianna Varga hadn't approached me, my desire to stage this work might have lingered within me, but her timing was perfect, as “I have searched in every nation, / every land upon the earth, / for that infinitely rare / beauty, far beyond belief, / for the lady of my dreams.”[1] Thanks to this commission, I was able to do the reckoning and I felt ready to stage this play.
Thank you for this refreshing and informative, friendly conversation. I wish you every success with the play and, of course, in the future! During your stay here, I wish you and the company a pleasant time in Gyula!
Thank you for the opportunity. We look forward to seeing everyone at the play on August 11, 2017, at 8:30 p.m.!
Gyulai Hírlap, 2017
Translated by Lena Megyeri
[1] Mihály Vörösmarty: The Quest - Csongor and Tünde. Translated by Peter Zollman