Zoltán Balázs many times thinks about ideas, which seem to be crazy. We can say, that it is the usual thing in his case. Now he puts on stage the well-known South African writer, Can Themba’s short story, The Suit, but it has not been enough for him in prose, he has made a jazz-opera, to be written from it.

For Peter Brook, who was the best director of all the time anyway, the prose version was enough. But Balázs likes to put himself on probe a lot, and those, who are working with him. He has found out, that the genre of the performance would be jazz-opera, which has not been existed before. Anyway, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess song is usually told to be that, but there are those, who do not agree with it. Anyway, that one is a grand play, and this is a chamber one. Its music has been composed by Adrián Kovács, and he puts the actors and musicians in difficult position, and of course himself too.

Bold risk taking

The performance was performed first on the original place of Maladype Theatre, in Bánk in the METTRIN Arts Centre, from where it would go on a thick international tour too. Between the performances of the Festival Plus, Krisztina Peremartoni has chosen it onto the Open-Air Stage of Városmajor, which proves some courage from her. To take performance, which was made into a chamber hall, in front of the auditorium, which has 800 seats, into the open air, obviously not into perfect acoustic circumstances, it can be risky anyway.

According to the story, Matilda has cheated her husband, who finds it out. He finds out a special punishment, according to it, the left suit of the lover, the wife has to treat day by day as a guest, serves it, feeds it, gives drink to it, she must be kind to it. The piece of cloths has become the embodiment of the lover. The object comes to life. Once in the National Puppet Theatre they performed the Aventures little opera by György Ligeti, that way, where a male suit and a female dress were quarrelling and tore each other up. The dead objects come to life. During the earlier performance of The Suit, they moved the clothes, they animated it. Balázs chose the different solution, the dead object is performed by Ferenc Fehér, dancer. He is going around in the flat. He is in their way with creative movements. He makes their life of marriage impossible. As an exclamation mark, as a litmus paper, he brings up our attention onto its faults. He takes attention. He can see everything. He is a lover, who activates himself well. Sometimes he is a phantom and then he is demonstratively presented. It must be interesting, if he also sang, but he does not do it, he expresses everything with movements, the desire and aggression as well.

Incredible sounds

Csilla Radnay sings wonderfully as Matilda. Unrealistic sounds, for example even those which are similar to a screaming frightening, can come out of her. According to her role, she is beautiful and depraved, mysterious and moody. She is unbearable, but she is unbearably attractive too. She is desperately and unavoidably woman. She is dangerous. She tempting and ready for sin. She can cause eternal pain. Her husband’s aim is to give it her back exponentially. He tortures her. He bothers her and disturbs her.

To illustrate it, Kovács composes melodies, which are not easy to hum. Some of them torture the actress in the strict sense of the word. The changes of styles and moods are sharp, sometimes they are very high up to the sky, and then the sounds are hurtfully sharp. Radnay is one of the Hungarian actresses, who can sing the best, so she can handle it very well. It is an extraordinary fulfilment and great performance!

Barna Kelemen Bányai is Philemon, the husband. About Radnay we have known that her musicality is great, for me in case of him it is a surprise. He does not have to “cut” those kinds of “turns”, extreme melodies as his partner does, sometimes he just grumbles, snorts, hisses, sighs but he can do it with the right rhythm and tone. As Radnay is feminine, he is absolutely masculine.

They abuse each other

Philemon and Matilda can be a perfect pair anyway. But it is not that way. They abuse each other, almost literally tear the skin down from each other. They can look at the other one, as they would like to kill by their eyes. They are radical, turn into absurd, because of it they are sometimes funny, they are unbearable, but they are painfully human from that point of view too, that they ruin it, which could move, maybe they would ruin their whole life.

Adrián Kovács’ music, which matches well to quarrels, disappointments, rises, breakdowns, which sometimes sounds as a cry for help, is played by a five membered orchestra perfectly, with András Szép’s leading. They breath together with the performance. They are sitting on the stage. We can see their faces too, and the moods of the situations are reflected on them too. Balázs has designed the sets, which is built up from the imitations of human ribs and spine. Finally, Matilda closes herself into these, she keeps distance from everything and everybody. But it is impossible. We have become witnesses of serious things. The South African story is agonizingly crucial here too.

The viewers have celebrated the performance for long, with thundering applause and crying of Bravos.

Gábor Bóta, Pepita Magazin, 2026

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)