Sixty changes of scenes, four hundred characters, five acts. In its original form, Alfred de Musset’s play is very big, complex and grandiose. The performance of Maladype puts it on stage during less than two hours, with five actors, without any changes of scene, and in spite of it all: it does not lose its complexity. Sándor Zsótér, the director, his dramaturg, Júlia Ungár, show the whole reduced to the most important things, the very bitter lesson of the impossibility of the reckoning of tyrannous power, filled with sharp humour.

Of course, in Lorenzaccio the story is the least important one. We get a syllabus to it, but the characters can help a lot too – they tell the places of happenings, sometimes the summary of the happenings of the given scene: the play in this case, is not the performance itself, just illustrates it. The performance is a grandiose tableau of Lorenzaccio, who gives up everything, which is important to him, to beat the tyrant, the so-called king of the republic. Meanwhile he becomes similar to him, and the noble aim is for nothing, if the tool makes him the same, as the one, he has fought against, and the power after the tyrant’s death gets into the hands of an unworthy one. Into a hand, behind which we cannot even see the face, and it is not sure, that it can make the situation better. There are only ghosts, so the task is waiting for the Ghostbusters. They do not manage to live with freedom in Firenze of the 16th century. Nor there.

The petty political games are allusive of course, which are strengthened by the motifs of today: here a portray is made of Zsuzsi Mary, the painter does not paint, but tattoos a decorated form on the prince’s neck (it is so cool). When they talk about ghosts, our performers are singing the theme music of the Ghostbusters. The connections of roles strengthen some characters similar personalities, the set (Mária Ambrus) consists of a single table, with a chair, some Renaissance paintings on the wall, a three-pronged funnel-like lamp, and a great amount of gloves. These are bloody gloves, they are sewed on one another, they cannot be separated, gloves, which form hands holding each other. Of course, these pictures have already been lost – here gloves do not protect the hands, but shows that they have been ruined. (From those bloody hands / Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground, as the Prince says it in Romeo and Juliette by Shakespeare.) Mari Benedek’s costumes are defined by the different shades of red, the eclectic nature of the dresses (from the socialist presenter’s coat, through the tracksuit, until the modern ankle socks), the properties, which can be grouped similarly (for example: blood-red string) emphasise the transparency of the story, the distance from the concrete personalities and happenings. They serve the emphasis of the value of examples.

The troupe of Maladype can express this example in extraordinary form, with exploding energy and with whole devotion. Ákos Orosz performs one single role, but his figure is so complex, that he transforms more times, than those, who express one personality in more of their roles. His character is very soft and sensitive, he wants and can see himself from outside. He understands that the aim cannot confirm the tool. The tragedy is the irreconcilability of the fact, that the single man, who dares to take the responsibility, during the process, can become his own target, so he has to get rid of that too, which he would need the most in his freedom. (It does not about the fact, that you can do anything, but it would be the freedom of the fact, that you are responsible for it.) Ádám Tompa expresses perfectly the elegance of cruelty, the belief of power in itself, he feels properly the possibilities of satire. Zoltán Lendváczky has the most ironic performance, he shows his given figures with some madness, with great talent of transformation, totally liberated, sometimes he performs great arc between tragedy and comedy. In their performances, the constant and sudden self-reflection is very important, it indicates their perfect discipline and excellent attention. Zsolt Páll and Kamilla Fátyol perform less and smaller characters, who are as important as the main roles, from the point of view of the performance, their performances, which are based on the contrasts, can complete the trio, who performs the more important characters. They are mostly the women, who create these gloves, these bloody hands tirelessly, as it would be the only possible and meaningful aim.

The creators do not seem to take seriously the great drama, and sometimes they make joke of it. Unexpected and shocking, but very effective jokes can make more colourful the performance, which deals with anyway, very relevant questions. We can understand Lorenzaccio’s tragedy, when he realises, that he cannot get rid of the mask any more, which he has put on himself, then after an unexpected turn, we are laughing on him suddenly, this fast turn happens often. Zsótér seems to paint the frames of an abstract political cabaret, which has a fight for life anyway, and this fight seems to be eternal. The last one must turn off the light.

István Ugrai, szinhazajanlo.hu, 2009

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)