Csaba Kiss: Who wanted to become a king
We can watch now Shakespeare’s great historical play of king in one of the room of a flat in the centre of the town, on the Base of Maladype. Sándor Zsótér’s staging the Richard III is performed with the usage of Ede Szigligeti’s one and half century old translation.
Nowadays, when all plays with foreign language are retranslated, and even the old styled Hungarian texts are rewritten into modern ones, so it is an interesting work if a director uses a 150 years old translation, while many newer ones have been made from the same play. Of course, in connection with Sándor Zsótér, those solutions that are against the usual ones, are not surprising. So we cannot get surprised if he does not use in case of Richard III the well-known, half a century old Hungarian translation by István Vas, but the other one, which is hundred years older than this, by Ede Szigligeti.
For the first time, we can think, that to this old translation a traditional vision of stage and authentic costumes must be connected, but Zsótér is not known to be that one, and on the Base of Maladype, so in the flat on Mikszáth Square, in one of the rooms of it, there is not much possibility for it. Mária Ambrus, the set designer, has put together a very profane set: she uses one element of a scaffold, which protests not only with its simplicity, but in the not so big room, it leaves a relatively small space to perform too. Above all, they have to show all places of the play here, which can also put on probe the viewers’ abstraction abilities too.
However, Zsótér would not be Zsótér if he was not able to use the simplest set in the most ingenious way. Not a long time ago, in the performance of The Seagull with the fourth year students of the actor course, he used all the possibilities of the hall of the University of Theatre Art, and now he gets everything he can from an element of a scaffold and from the room of the base of Maladype. The element of the scaffold is a podium, which is standing on huge metal legs, and to this later one, they can get up through a trapdoor. It can immediately form a divided space: the difference between the up and down is presented here and queen Margit for example, can tells her curse from above to those, who are down under and Richard gives his orders from above to his followers down. The trapdoor is a perfect tool to imitate for example the cutting of the head. They can enter the room through three doors, only half of the viewers can see two of them: it offers possibility to an exciting game for example, in case of the scene of the two assassins. To the simple sets, simple dresses can be connected. Mari Benedek cuts the dresses for the male actors, from carpets, which they can put on themselves on very different ways. The properties are children toys: the sword is a toy sword, the little princes are represented by toy dinosaurs, and even a toy helicopter is presented here.
It is difficult at the beginning to follow the old-fashioned text, then we get used to the fact, that here they speak this language. Mostly because, they do it so naturally, as they would really speak Ede Szigligeti’s language here and now. The following of the lines of story is more difficult, especially because eleven actors get twenty-one roles – some of them perform four of them. Who meet the play for the first time, they can easily get lost in the circle of the characters, but even those, who know the play better, can rise their heads from here and there. However, Júlia Ungár can solve the cut of the text and the connection of roles technically well, but maybe on behalf of the understanding they could sacrifice even more characters or scenes.
Zoltán Balázs in the role of Richard, does not perform the physical failure of the character, about which we can hear in the famous beginning monologue. His Gloster is a rather handsome, royal descendant, who does not want to take revenge on nature because of his physical problems, but he decides to become a villain, only because he wants to get power, and he will kill everybody, who is in his way. The performance is characterised by good artistic performances and strong scenes: the oral fight between Zoltán Balázs – Gloster and Ágota Szilágyi – Lady Anna is exciting, and we can watch an especially strong performance by Kata Huszárik, in the role of Queen Elizabeth, who has lost her husband and children. There are many grotesque scenes too: Sándor Márkus and Zoltán Friedenthal perform a smaller cabaret in the roles of the two assassins. The funniest is scene without doubt is when according to the order of the dying king all mortal enemies hug each other, and finally by holding each other’s hand they are standing around the scaffold to demonstrate the sign of peace.
However, for me it is not clear, why Zsótér has thought to be important to perform Shakespeare’s play here and now, the result is an excitingly experimental performance, which is full of strong artistic performances.
Csaba Kiss, prae.hu, 2016
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)
Nowadays, when all plays with foreign language are retranslated, and even the old styled Hungarian texts are rewritten into modern ones, so it is an interesting work if a director uses a 150 years old translation, while many newer ones have been made from the same play. Of course, in connection with Sándor Zsótér, those solutions that are against the usual ones, are not surprising. So we cannot get surprised if he does not use in case of Richard III the well-known, half a century old Hungarian translation by István Vas, but the other one, which is hundred years older than this, by Ede Szigligeti.
For the first time, we can think, that to this old translation a traditional vision of stage and authentic costumes must be connected, but Zsótér is not known to be that one, and on the Base of Maladype, so in the flat on Mikszáth Square, in one of the rooms of it, there is not much possibility for it. Mária Ambrus, the set designer, has put together a very profane set: she uses one element of a scaffold, which protests not only with its simplicity, but in the not so big room, it leaves a relatively small space to perform too. Above all, they have to show all places of the play here, which can also put on probe the viewers’ abstraction abilities too.
However, Zsótér would not be Zsótér if he was not able to use the simplest set in the most ingenious way. Not a long time ago, in the performance of The Seagull with the fourth year students of the actor course, he used all the possibilities of the hall of the University of Theatre Art, and now he gets everything he can from an element of a scaffold and from the room of the base of Maladype. The element of the scaffold is a podium, which is standing on huge metal legs, and to this later one, they can get up through a trapdoor. It can immediately form a divided space: the difference between the up and down is presented here and queen Margit for example, can tells her curse from above to those, who are down under and Richard gives his orders from above to his followers down. The trapdoor is a perfect tool to imitate for example the cutting of the head. They can enter the room through three doors, only half of the viewers can see two of them: it offers possibility to an exciting game for example, in case of the scene of the two assassins. To the simple sets, simple dresses can be connected. Mari Benedek cuts the dresses for the male actors, from carpets, which they can put on themselves on very different ways. The properties are children toys: the sword is a toy sword, the little princes are represented by toy dinosaurs, and even a toy helicopter is presented here.
It is difficult at the beginning to follow the old-fashioned text, then we get used to the fact, that here they speak this language. Mostly because, they do it so naturally, as they would really speak Ede Szigligeti’s language here and now. The following of the lines of story is more difficult, especially because eleven actors get twenty-one roles – some of them perform four of them. Who meet the play for the first time, they can easily get lost in the circle of the characters, but even those, who know the play better, can rise their heads from here and there. However, Júlia Ungár can solve the cut of the text and the connection of roles technically well, but maybe on behalf of the understanding they could sacrifice even more characters or scenes.
Zoltán Balázs in the role of Richard, does not perform the physical failure of the character, about which we can hear in the famous beginning monologue. His Gloster is a rather handsome, royal descendant, who does not want to take revenge on nature because of his physical problems, but he decides to become a villain, only because he wants to get power, and he will kill everybody, who is in his way. The performance is characterised by good artistic performances and strong scenes: the oral fight between Zoltán Balázs – Gloster and Ágota Szilágyi – Lady Anna is exciting, and we can watch an especially strong performance by Kata Huszárik, in the role of Queen Elizabeth, who has lost her husband and children. There are many grotesque scenes too: Sándor Márkus and Zoltán Friedenthal perform a smaller cabaret in the roles of the two assassins. The funniest is scene without doubt is when according to the order of the dying king all mortal enemies hug each other, and finally by holding each other’s hand they are standing around the scaffold to demonstrate the sign of peace.
However, for me it is not clear, why Zsótér has thought to be important to perform Shakespeare’s play here and now, the result is an excitingly experimental performance, which is full of strong artistic performances.
Csaba Kiss, prae.hu, 2016
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)