Beaumarchais’ wild comedy, which was written in 1778, The Marriage of Figaro can stand in for the probe of time, its topic is still effective, and its humour is not old fashioned. The performance of Maladype shows it in their flat theatre, called Base on the Mikszáth Square, in Sándor Zsótér’s staging.

Of course, some kind of face lifting, so Júlia Ungár’s master-level retranslation does very good for the text. The dramaturg can mix the classical and modern language with perfect sense of proportion, and as a result of it, an originally witty and sharp replies can work better, and become even more humorous. The good text is very important in connection with the Figaro of Maladype, because we are talking about a usual Maladype performance, which uses minimal set and properties and it is text oriented one.

The set, with exception of an armchair, is the place itself, given by the civilian flat, and it can match very well to a performance, where the characters are hiding from one another maniacally, and gives a perfect opportunity to use situation comedy. As it would do experiments with a performance, with fewer properties, so almost everything is replaced by a bra, fantasy and punctual artistic performance.

Similarly to the text, Mari Benedek’s costumes can move on the performance, as she encodes everything in a multiplied way, into the costumes, hairstyle, make-ups, which the sets, lights and properties do not show us. It is a great idea, that almost all the characters are dressed up for a wedding, as the play is about the story of that silly day, when the Countess’ first servant, Suzanne (Erika Tankó) and the Count’s servant, Figaro (Ákos Orosz) get married. So the costumes express, that everything is going around this marriage.

But why is everybody wearing wedding dresses, if only a couple is about to get married? It is what can mark the conflict, as more possible bridegrooms can be connected to a bride, and the situation is the same in case of the bridegroom. The Count (Ádám Tompa) and his squire, Cherubin (Zénó Faragó) would like to date with Suzanne, but the later one is courting the Countess too (Judit Kovács Ligeti), but she is in love with the Count, who has not been taking care of her for a while. Marceline (Mari Törőcsik), the housekeeper also goes around Figaro, however she has an undefined partnership-like connection to doctor Bartholo (Zsolt Páll). And to make a line full, Bazile (Zoltán Lendváczky), the Countess’ cembalo teacher, also has a wish for Marceline’s attention. Fanchette (Kamilla Fátyol) has soft affection towards Cherubin.

And if it all has not been enough, it turns out, that everybody is everybody relative, and if they are not by accident, then they work hard on it to make the net of relationships confused soon. The Marriage of Figaro is a great play on its own, with always-reformed alliances, front lines, where revenge results in revenge, and to quote the play itself, “one silly can result in hundred ones”. Sándor Zsótér and the actors of Maladype can make this fine machine of comedy work perfectly. They dictate a tensed tempo, they divide and multiply, they argue, make jokes, they ruin someone, they change dresses, make alibies, they gossip, argue, make up with each other, they spy and hit each other then they desire and court, hate and love.

While the machine is working, the gear can form continuously powerful and eternal wisdom and moral lessons, for example, that the object of desire is almost always something, which cannot be ours, love is killed by routine, women have to take more care of their good reputation than their virtue, and love cannot be bought by money. And it is no use punishing someone because of a suspicion, and it is worth remembering, that we should not humiliate someone, who works for us, as it makes bad servants, and there is not any worse enemy than a bad servant.

The Figaro of Maladype is fascinating, entertaining, witty and a performance, which is rich in ideas, with real live figures, and perfectly formed characters. The actors go through a wide scale of feelings, and the use to the extreme the multi-coloured possibility of performance, which is served by the play. However, we have to be a skilful viewer to follow this complicated story, and make this confused system of relationships clear in themselves, but it worthy going into the forest with Maladype, as we can come back more hopefully, wisely and powerfully from there.

Adél Hercsel, prae.hu, 2011

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)