It takes me a while to understand, that the most exciting figure of the Hungarian theatrical life for me is Zoltán Balázs without any doubt, who is the artistic director, face and director of the independent Maladype Theatre. For the celebration of the anniversary of the almost ten years old troupe they performed on 31st March the newest play, which was made of the Inferno act of The Divine Comedy by Dante, for which the Trafó gives the place.

I was led to my discovery in connection with Zoltán Balázs, that while during the last years I was looking for eagerly the premiers of Bárka Theatre, which accepted the troupe of Maladype, since they have left it, I am less interested in the happenings there. When I turned toward the Thália Theatre, it also happened because of them. Slowly I realised, that I have followed this incredibly talented, even today very young director and founder of a troupe. But now, after leaving the Bárka Theatre, many changes has happened with the Maladype. It seems to be, that with the formation of their open workshop “base” and the almost total changing of the members of the troupe, they have stepped on a new road. The scale of performances, which is a kind of sum of the last decade, brings the initial possibilities of future in itself, which they chained up to the tragedy, which was formed on the base The Divine Comedy by Dante. The first part of this trilogy is the Inferno, which was performed on the last day of March. This performance alternates between the translation by Mihály Babits and Ádám Nádasdy’s new voice.

I am not proud, but during my secondary school years I took easy the compulsory readings, so I only got the outline of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. This work is the part of the basic education, so it is an unavoidable memory, which quotes the atmosphere of the middle age Italy, its mental styles and everyday life. Its main sentences can be heard daily, and we refer to it during many of our conversations. It is hard to think about the fact, that all of it was born seven hundred years ago. But now it gets alive again.

Zoltán Balázs reaches back to the tools of the mystery plays of the middle age, but he wraps it into the appearance of the modern-minimalism. Even the initial picture can define everything, it creates a very strong atmosphere. The figure of Dante (Zénó Faragó) is sitting on a throne, which makes us remember Gigert, he is lighted by a spot lamp, he is wearing the symbols of the life on earth (gold and leather) but he is looking up, towards the light. The two sides support him supported by two of his angles, who are covered by gloom. They are Beatrice (Kamilla Fátyol) and Lucifer (Ákos Orosz). There are black dressed figures around them, (the choir of the volunteers), they are sitting, as they are the insensitive viewers of the human sufferings. Dante’s monologue is the starting point, then on the two sides, above the seduction, appears the ratio and spirit in the figure of Vergil, who reaches above the throne, and somehow he overcomes the poet’s inner battle. Andrea Ladányi gets into the tall figure of Vergil, with her tensed marble like body, and with her guiding the big “adventure” can start, to the place, where humans can go only in their imaginations, to the empire of the dead ones.

The journey first takes us to the inferno, where the less lucky crowd of the divine order is suffering from well-prepared punishments. As Dante asks one by one the fallen spirits about their unlucky fates, the performers and the choir are formed into vivid statues, into the embodied sins, by the precise choreography of Andrán Szőllősi. They are grunting and panting like pigs, they give birth to prostitutes instead of Venuses, they become frozen or boiling water, then dry trees, they become torn bodies or giants. Ulysses and his partners appear, the Minotaur, whose wild anger never gets calmer, and those unlucky ones, who are burning forever in their own devouring fire. All of it is formed in front of us, without any mistakes, we can say, however, the tempo is so fast that we do not have enough time to understand the actual political references of Dante’s time. The main hero is asking questions, because he would like to create a memory of the damned ones in the world of the living ones, who are accused many times by untrue charges. That is why he is continuously asking them, meanwhile he remains almost always in a static position, he is travelling inside himself, and he finds himself (his own humanity) in the story.

The sounds and musicality are defining during the performance. The whispering, humming, singing, shuffling of the choir, or even the noise of their marching are as important as the rhythms and melodies of the two also covered multi-musicians (Ákos Kerényi and Kornél Mogyoró), they are sometimes meditative, then pulsating psychotic or very powerful, their music is similar to the wild circling dance of the Sufi whirling. They push me into unconsciousness, they help us to abandon ourselves to the giddy journey.

The set (made by Péter Polgár) is simple, it is around the death and blood, black and red are dominated around the throne, which elevated lonely in the middle of the stage, as it would symbolise the centre of human conscious, between its thousand projections. In the background faceless hooded crowd turns towards us. The dresses are simple, dark, only Lucifer, who is dressed in the long skirt and net-like top, who is the ruler of the place and the half-naked Dante stand out of the others. Vergil, who goes on the road of the spirit, is grey, Beatrice, who is leading towards virtue and heaven, is brown, that way they also fit into the darkness, among the others.

Zénó Faragó is good, he takes the journey on his back, his text telling is perfect, he performs his character perfectly, he makes it memorable, his appearance has weight. The almost cathartic scene can be connected to him, when Lucifer takes his place on the throne, in his arm with his engaged one, who is burning is ecstasy, with Judas. Dante would like to save Judas, who has fallen into the deepest part of inferno, whose short story provokes in him deep human tenderness and sympathy. It is a wonderful moment, maybe it is the peak point. Ákos Orosz, who performs Lucifer is less convincing for me, anyway he gets into the central point in the end, and he gets the ruling chair of the empire. Somehow, I would expect a more frightening, more blood-curdling, heavier character, instead of it I gets Dante’s little bit superficial, rigid, sceptical aspect. He cannot convince me. The other side is the wonderful Beatrice, who by the arriving of the dawn, melts with the traveller, she is more passionate and more exciting, which is weird, as the character is not famous of her complexity. Andrea Ladányi, as Vergil creates something very important, as she performs her archaic text as an extremely strict tour guide.

Basically, the Inferno is a perfect performance, I can feel the genius ideas, the fact, that everybody, who takes part it in, can understand perfectly the director’s conception, so they can interpret it almost perfectly. The conception is excellent. Anyway, the troupe still has what to do: they have to get used to each other, come together, gain experiences, because their director wants a lot from them, and hopefully, he will not accept less.

Anna Nikoletta Nagy, kultblog.hu, 2011

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)