The rehearsals for William Shakespeare's Richard III have begun at Maladype Base. Directed by Sándor Zsótér and with Zoltán Balázs in the title role, the play’s premiere is set for May 18, 2016 at 7pm. The relationship between the director and the cast began years ago with Wyspiański’s Acropolis, which was then followed by such iconic performances as Lorenzaccio by Musset, Beaumarchais’s The Marriage of Figaro, and Brecht’s Don Juan.

The creators about the play:
Panel comes to mind about the play – Richard III – the dictator. Lord of life and death. A despot. An absolute tyrant. An oppressor. Tyrant. And he is neither: why can he be a tyrant, an oppressor, a despot, the lord of life and death, a dictator? How can he become one? Because he is like such and such. He feels compelled, he wants to get to the top. But it wouldn’t be enough if he chooses so and wants this. He needs the others to assist.

They work hard for him. They aren`t as imposing people as Richard III, they are not as ambitious, but they do their best in their field. They work hard for him and he’ll represent their interests. They hope to get something in return. Whether it’s financial advantage or some power position. They can be used for anything because they very much have it in them to engage in scoundrelism and they are not even necessarily aware of it. Their minds light up only when they lose their minds, and their lives. Those (lined up) against Richard believe they are morally entitled to be upset, but when they were in a privileged position, they trampled, killed or slain one another in just the same way. Their reasons being: the only way they can protect their interests is by killing the other one because the other has every interest to kill them. It is a very obvious, a common reasoning. We can see the bare interests. It becomes a public affair by the responsibility being about something more than just an apartment: it’s about a country with people living in it.

Those who are afraid and those who are moved by fear. They are sly. They are sneaky. They have a lot of bad experience, which is not really a reason for not acting. We can identify with this.
We think that this cannot happen to us. Do not think that way.
We are witness to forms of human behavior from which we can draw some lessons, even if, incorrectly so, we do not follow them.

The story of Richard III is the last stage of the War of the Roses. The victory of the House of York promises an era of peace. King Edward IV’s younger brother Richard is bored. In the war, he stood out with his courage, valor, but in peacetime he cannot find his place to apply his skills with his distorted appearance (result of a birth defect). He decides to go back to war, if not openly, this time with this family. He seeks to take the throne. He’ll get rid of everyone who gets in his way. He knows people quite well, he knows the human nature and takes fancy in playing with them. However, when he gains power, he loses his playfulness. He begins to fear for his power. Nobody could swallow the murders he ordered. Neither could he. He has one true enemy—opponent – his own conscience. It makes him weak. This is why the new claimant to the throne can defeat him. No matter how tempting the analogy of identifying Richard with the dictators of the recent past or the present, there is one decisive difference: he is conscious of the moral world order. He consciously chooses the bad. He doesn’t think of it or calls (i.e. lies about it as) good.

Cast: Zoltán Balázs, Zsigmond Bödök, Balázs Fila, Zoltán Friedenthal, Kata Huszárik, József Kádas, Sándor Márkus, Márton Pallag, Ágota Szilágyi, Péter Pál Szűcs, Erika Tankó

Set design: Mária Ambrus
Costume design: Mária Benedek
Dramaturg: Júlia Ungár

Director: Sándor Zsótér

Opening night: May 18, 2016, Maladype Base