Büchner is in fashion. Above it he is fashionable. Last year Zoltán Balázs’ old-styled-modern Leonce and Lena was successful. At the beginning of the next month the comedy will be re-performed by the Berliner Ensemble, with Bob Wilson’s sets, lighting plans and direction. Zoltán Balázs has invited the director, Claudio Collovà from Palermo to the Maladype Theatre to make a workshop from the Woyzeck-visions. Gábor Thurzó’s translation is mixed with Zoltán Halasi’s texts and György Rónay’s engrossed poems.

Büchner always has a modern effect. He was liked in Weimar. He was fashionable in the Nazi Germany. In the NDK and NSZK too. He was fresher than any other new things. Büchner was suitable for anything and for the opposition of these too.

In case of Balázs’ fairy tale by Büchner the viewers could order: who would go on with the performance. All actors were well prepared on each role. In Collovà’s performance there are four Woyzecks and four Marys. Everything has four versions. The actors are the mirrors of one another. There are four killers and four victims. But who is the killer and who is the victim? At the beginning they are burying Woyzeck. Then they hang him up. Then they sentence him. Then finally comes the sin of the cheater woman and the barber’s murder. During the first quarter of the hour by the back wall there are four women between the hills of painted plates (Éva Bakos, Katalin Simkó, who has played Hedwig in The Wild Duck in Katona Theatre, Hermina and Kamilla Fátyol). Bakos is browsing through a magazine. She gives it on. The others watch it too. They do not show to the viewers what they are looking at. With so many speaking by the director it is not a miracle that the performance of Büchner’s fragments lasts (without any brakes) for two hours in the Thália Studio.

Behind the actors György Bajkó’s metal chandeliers are hanging. In iron holders there are jars filled with urine. From there get the four Woyzecks (Zoltán Lendváczky, Ádám Tompa, Ákos Orosz, Zsolt Páll) their own jars, to pour something into the bucket as the doctor orders them. Lendváczky was good last year as Zoltán Papp. As this name has been used in theatres, it has been changed into a more complicated one. Hajni Makai’s costumes with their compact compositions show us taste and competence.

The viewers’ cultural inhibition, behaviour, hopefulness can bear till the end this hard set of exercises which is performed in a first-class way by the actors. Its vocal, concentrated, strengthening and balancing etudes. I do not think that there are any other troupe in Hungary, where the members would accept the exercises which are torturously hard and against all self-exhibitionism. Sometimes the stage gets hot. The concentration, the self-sacrifice of actors and the serving of exercise without any resistance should be appreciated. The fulfilled exercises later have their results. It is useful – especially for youngsters at the beginning of their career – to fulfil complicated lessons.

The actors stand in a line by the long side of the area, when there is not anywhere to go. There is a great interval. One of the tortured viewers stars to clap. But they are still singing – smilingly – the final song of the exam, after which the form teacher gives out books as presents to the most hard-working students.

Péter Gál Molnár, Népszabadság Online, 2008

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)