....It is an unworthy parallel to mention Schiller on the same level with Herczeg, but here the story is again about a ruler, who is betrayed, left alone, feels himself lonely between his partners. In this case the author has not forgotten to write the characters. The king, II. Philip is an unlimited tyrant, he does not have to be afraid of losing his empire, but is, as his loyal one, who he rose to this position because of his honest and incorruptibility, has planted the phobia of all tyrants in him: the idea of freedom. Posa is the naivest positive intriguer of drama literature, he gets involved hard into the family and governmental business, which makes everybody fall, the queen, who loves his son-in-low, her previous fiancé (they use queen here too, they are unable to correct István Vas’ half a century old mistake), Carlos gets lost from the point of freedom and love, the lover of the king, Princess Eboli, whose vanity is hurt, Posa, who sacrifices his life, and the king himself, who is emotionally robbed at all. There is only one winner: The impersonal Grand Inquisitor, who stands in for absolute ideological power.

Zoltán Balázs directed a very amusing performance on the Maladype Base. We are sitting around a circular, staircase like podium, out of which an orange tree grows, designed by Judit Gombár. We don’t need to suspect allusions, in Schiller’s drama someone is sent to bring some oranges, which is hereby on hand, and once the king fills Posa’s mouth full with orange and this isn’t either symbolic. The actors are on stage most of the time, they perfectly use the stairs symbolising hierarchy, and even if they are not in a scene, sitting still, their body language refers to their relations with the others. Sometimes they leave the central podium behind, for example Philip shouts at his empire from the open window at Mikszáth Square, and Posa will be shot down in the window by snipers. Their performances are concentrated and intensive, Károly Kuna (II. Philip), Erika Tankó (Elizabeth), Zoltán Lendváczky (Carlos), Ákos Orosz (Posa), Gabriella Varga (Eboli), László Keszég (Alva) and Gyöngyi Balsek (Inquisitor) can all express the story with strong and clever interpretation and natural irony.

The sounds of Mikszáth Square and the Radio Station nearby somehow become parts of Goethe’s Egmont, which seems to be the continuation of Don Carlos in the same evening with the same performers. Of course it isn’t, after all it is. Posa’s Flemish idea of freedom is in Egmont’s hand, both played by Ákos Orosz. Egmont compared to the Schiller - type of hero is an ordinary person – we can call it a Shakespeare-like Goethe - whose only desire would be liveable freedom, if the dictatorship – appearing in the form of the Duke of Alva – was about to allow it. His arrest and imprisonment appear as daily news in the phone-in programme of the radio. Gabriella Varga and Gábor Jászberényi, the two presenters are sitting in front of a microphone, which is located where the orange tree grew before, they are talking about political actualities, giving us cooking tips and answering to messages they get from the audience while singing pop songs – very perfectly. The idea of freedom, death row, execution appear as commerce media events of our everyday life. It is a funny, devastating and true pamphlet.

Zoltán Balázs and Maladype have got it very well, and what is more important: they do it gorgeously.

Tamás Koltai, Élet és Irodalom, 2012

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)