István J. Bedő: Why is Dante? When is Dante?
What can be the reason, why the Maladype Theatre gets the third part of The Divine Comedy, and puts it on stage. Because of its modern nature? No way, as Dante is conservative catholic, he lines up sins with hard words and scourges them. Yes, but Dante is the most modern person of his time, he is the ancestor of all reporters (© Egon Erwin Kisch), who faces up all terrible views with honest interest, however, he clearly gets the risky conditions: “Who enters here, gives all the hope up!”
And why does he do all these? To be able to get his lover Beatrice to and through the inferno, purgatory towards the stars. Can Dante be dusted? It seems to be yes. But should we do it? Of course, it can benefit from it. Not because of its dusty feelings and ideas, but on contrast to it. But its phrasing really comes from the middle age, its statements are extremely long. But what it writes down and shows us – even raises up – that can be used again and again. For example when morals get worse.
Let’s admit, that morals always gets worse. There has not been any time, which seniors have not complained about the failing of its youngsters. Or it was there in Dante’s era, the political fight, which has been going on for more than a century, between the Guelph (followers of the pope) and the Ghibellines (followers of the emperor), which can effect again in our everyday life too. As anytime can be two political power against each other, when none of them is as clean as the snow. So by rereading, re-watching Dante, we can find ideas, which can be said to our modern time.
So now only the text itself has to be reedited. By the work of Judit Góczán, dramaturg, some parts of the texts by Thomas Mann and Paolo Santarcangeli can get into it, and Ádám Nádasdy’s new translations, which have been made especially for this performance. However a practiced theatre goer might not even recognise it, as even if between the familiar statements by Babits, very modern parts appear too – for example, Beatrice’s long and modern list about the fact why she hates people. And at the end of the list, she tells broken – that that is why she loves people.
The text seems to be almost prose, as Zénó Faragó (Dante) starts telling jerkily the familiar statements, and sitting on a throne, which makes us remember a Robert Vallejo’s graphic or even a try by death-metal bands, he starts his tour in the inferno. Beatrice (Kamilla Fátyol) follows him as an angel, and Ákos Orosz, as a modern Lucifer gives the counterpoint to him.
But let’s the guide, Vergil! Andrea Ladányi is a guidebook with many texts. He is the strict guide for Dante, who is annoyingly curious, who wants to understand himself, meanwhile he understands others’ failures, sins, miseries and shames. Vergil is a cruel master with aesthetic outlook, who is a role model. Ladány appears in short tailed black coat, tight-fitting trousers on the stage, with her flat short hair, she is similar to a German money-aristocrat’s child, who is over bred (with confused gender identity) of the 30s. The late poet descendant cannot expect any forgiveness of sympathy of him.
As we are rushing through the past without Christianity, the accidental shadows, the statists of the performance, get their own roles, the nameless ones, who have very important role – so the damned souls. Their movements (it is the wonderful work by the designer of movements, by András Szőllősi) can make them real bio-set: and this word must be handled from a very positive point of view now. They are the boiling swamp, the wild sea, which surrounds Ulysses, they are the embodied binge around Ciacco, who has fallen into the sin of gluttony. And if we get deeper into the inferno: they are the grove of vivid trees, of the jealous ones.
Then the more horrific ones come circles by circles: the tyrants, killers, robbers, murderers, blasphemous ones, hypocrites, unnatural lechers, usurers – finally the cheaters and traitors. Around all of us, the appearance of the coated-hooded souls, their marching, falling, collapsing can make the place to be the horrible world of the Inferno.
We can hear them differently on the stage, but Babits’ words are the most beautiful ones, which can be told about any soul that gets into the inferno: “all of them has the same sin, the ugly life”. So the Comedy has one scene, the sin of which Dante convicts, but the beauty of it, does not make us remember the Inferno: the story of the dead ones of love. This is Paolo and Francesca’s famous love. The man asks for his (ugly) brother – for political reasons, to get the piece of weapons – the beautiful girl from Rimini, but finally they fall in love with each other, and the idyll is stopped by the sword strike by the brother. The two young ones’ circling and going around, the hanging of their arms to each other, can give wonderful moments to the viewers.
Zénó Faragó’s Dante rarely leaves the mental-cold time machine. He is going around in it, as he is blown by a tornado. He asks tirelessly the newer and newer subjects of his interviews, even if he dies because of them. The punishing dance of the inferno goes on around and in front of him. From the two sides of the throne, which is decorated by skulls, Beatrice and Lucifer do not get very far. They seem to live in a shell, they are separated from the world of shadows by top lights. Dante is only a visitor. Vergil, as some kind of main hunter, he guides and judges, while standing on the top of the back of the throne. Andrea Ladányi’s all tensed standing on one point, even her steel sharp voice too: all these are frozen dance. They are wonderful.
The roles, which are marked by many names, here performed by five actors: Zoltán Lendváczky, Judit Kovács Ligeti, Zsolt Páll, Erika Tankó and Ádám Tompa. They take me with themselves. There are not any fake movements, dissonant voices. By the way: the voice. In spite of its monumental and monotonous nature, the Japanese taiko drums, with their many sounds, and the other percussion instruments are played (stylishly) incredibly well by Ákos Kerényi and Kornél Mogyoró.
Zoltán Balázs treat with definite arms the greatest text of the 14th century – and since than of the world literature. It is not sure, that he does it respectfully, but with powerful conception anyway. The result confirms him: he can make a performance for the modern time. However, it is good if the viewers can prepare before from the original work, as without it, they can just move their heads, while those great amounts of names and references are told. However, it could be similar, in case of Dante’s peers too...
István J. Bedő, olvassbele.hu, 2011
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)
And why does he do all these? To be able to get his lover Beatrice to and through the inferno, purgatory towards the stars. Can Dante be dusted? It seems to be yes. But should we do it? Of course, it can benefit from it. Not because of its dusty feelings and ideas, but on contrast to it. But its phrasing really comes from the middle age, its statements are extremely long. But what it writes down and shows us – even raises up – that can be used again and again. For example when morals get worse.
Let’s admit, that morals always gets worse. There has not been any time, which seniors have not complained about the failing of its youngsters. Or it was there in Dante’s era, the political fight, which has been going on for more than a century, between the Guelph (followers of the pope) and the Ghibellines (followers of the emperor), which can effect again in our everyday life too. As anytime can be two political power against each other, when none of them is as clean as the snow. So by rereading, re-watching Dante, we can find ideas, which can be said to our modern time.
So now only the text itself has to be reedited. By the work of Judit Góczán, dramaturg, some parts of the texts by Thomas Mann and Paolo Santarcangeli can get into it, and Ádám Nádasdy’s new translations, which have been made especially for this performance. However a practiced theatre goer might not even recognise it, as even if between the familiar statements by Babits, very modern parts appear too – for example, Beatrice’s long and modern list about the fact why she hates people. And at the end of the list, she tells broken – that that is why she loves people.
The text seems to be almost prose, as Zénó Faragó (Dante) starts telling jerkily the familiar statements, and sitting on a throne, which makes us remember a Robert Vallejo’s graphic or even a try by death-metal bands, he starts his tour in the inferno. Beatrice (Kamilla Fátyol) follows him as an angel, and Ákos Orosz, as a modern Lucifer gives the counterpoint to him.
But let’s the guide, Vergil! Andrea Ladányi is a guidebook with many texts. He is the strict guide for Dante, who is annoyingly curious, who wants to understand himself, meanwhile he understands others’ failures, sins, miseries and shames. Vergil is a cruel master with aesthetic outlook, who is a role model. Ladány appears in short tailed black coat, tight-fitting trousers on the stage, with her flat short hair, she is similar to a German money-aristocrat’s child, who is over bred (with confused gender identity) of the 30s. The late poet descendant cannot expect any forgiveness of sympathy of him.
As we are rushing through the past without Christianity, the accidental shadows, the statists of the performance, get their own roles, the nameless ones, who have very important role – so the damned souls. Their movements (it is the wonderful work by the designer of movements, by András Szőllősi) can make them real bio-set: and this word must be handled from a very positive point of view now. They are the boiling swamp, the wild sea, which surrounds Ulysses, they are the embodied binge around Ciacco, who has fallen into the sin of gluttony. And if we get deeper into the inferno: they are the grove of vivid trees, of the jealous ones.
Then the more horrific ones come circles by circles: the tyrants, killers, robbers, murderers, blasphemous ones, hypocrites, unnatural lechers, usurers – finally the cheaters and traitors. Around all of us, the appearance of the coated-hooded souls, their marching, falling, collapsing can make the place to be the horrible world of the Inferno.
We can hear them differently on the stage, but Babits’ words are the most beautiful ones, which can be told about any soul that gets into the inferno: “all of them has the same sin, the ugly life”. So the Comedy has one scene, the sin of which Dante convicts, but the beauty of it, does not make us remember the Inferno: the story of the dead ones of love. This is Paolo and Francesca’s famous love. The man asks for his (ugly) brother – for political reasons, to get the piece of weapons – the beautiful girl from Rimini, but finally they fall in love with each other, and the idyll is stopped by the sword strike by the brother. The two young ones’ circling and going around, the hanging of their arms to each other, can give wonderful moments to the viewers.
Zénó Faragó’s Dante rarely leaves the mental-cold time machine. He is going around in it, as he is blown by a tornado. He asks tirelessly the newer and newer subjects of his interviews, even if he dies because of them. The punishing dance of the inferno goes on around and in front of him. From the two sides of the throne, which is decorated by skulls, Beatrice and Lucifer do not get very far. They seem to live in a shell, they are separated from the world of shadows by top lights. Dante is only a visitor. Vergil, as some kind of main hunter, he guides and judges, while standing on the top of the back of the throne. Andrea Ladányi’s all tensed standing on one point, even her steel sharp voice too: all these are frozen dance. They are wonderful.
The roles, which are marked by many names, here performed by five actors: Zoltán Lendváczky, Judit Kovács Ligeti, Zsolt Páll, Erika Tankó and Ádám Tompa. They take me with themselves. There are not any fake movements, dissonant voices. By the way: the voice. In spite of its monumental and monotonous nature, the Japanese taiko drums, with their many sounds, and the other percussion instruments are played (stylishly) incredibly well by Ákos Kerényi and Kornél Mogyoró.
Zoltán Balázs treat with definite arms the greatest text of the 14th century – and since than of the world literature. It is not sure, that he does it respectfully, but with powerful conception anyway. The result confirms him: he can make a performance for the modern time. However, it is good if the viewers can prepare before from the original work, as without it, they can just move their heads, while those great amounts of names and references are told. However, it could be similar, in case of Dante’s peers too...
István J. Bedő, olvassbele.hu, 2011
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)