Ákos Orosz received the award for the most promising newcomer this year from the critics. Next to this, with the actor of the Maladype Theatre’s company, we also talked about encounters, motivation, the youth, people and roles.

- You lead a rather busy life. This morning you traveled to Miskolc, in the afternoon you have already arrived in Pest, and you are about to leave for rehearsal, tomorrow there will be a Lorenzaccio performance, which will be taken to Arad in a few days. Do you like this kind of spin?

- If there are minor interruptions in between, then yes. Now I'm looking forward to a pretty tough period, without breaks or pauses, because this month we're traveling a lot with the troupe - thank God. There is a lot of work involved in this, you have to travel, you have to assess where the performance will be, you have to rehearse the performance there, then you have to come home and go on again. Traveling takes a lot of energy, but at the same time it also fills me up, because even if it's only for a few hours, you're in a new city, in a place that's not what you're used to. There you can meet new people. After Arad, I will go to Poland, then home, and then to Poland again. We were in Slovenia last week. But this week we also had two days off, one of which is today.

- You traveled to Miskolc this morning... What did you do there?

- There is a thinking man there, Attila Bujdos, who deals with a lot of cultural things. Among other things, he organizes a series called Knowledge Factory, to which he invites one person every week or two, with whom participants can talk. In the summer, we held a two-week camp there with Maladype, and today some guys who took part in it also came to see me. I was talking about the theater and the acting profession. Also about concentration and attention, because I consider this very important. Much more important than solving something from a figure. Sitting, standing, talking and acting focused - that's the hardest part in my opinion, without doing anything else.

- Are young people important to you to share these with them?

- Very much for me. In my current trip, I was obviously invited by Attila Bujdos, but it was important that I go to young people and I am always happy to go. It was the first time that I faced the students alone, but with Maladype we constantly visit high schools and forums where we meet young people. In their own environment, it is harder to get their attention because they are at home and not us. But I see that it is not a lost generation at all. If you can show them something that they can pay attention to, if you can talk in a way that they are receptive to - this does not mean that you have to be exclusively expressive all the time - then they are indeed interested and will tell you their own thoughts. In other words, they have perspective. If not in others, then you can trust them - of course I also trust myself, I haven't buried myself, but it is very important to deal with them. It would be good to raise them in such a way that they know and have the need to represent some value. Many people look down on them, usually those who generalize. Of course, there is some basis for this, but even among people from the most backward cultural environment, you can find someone who has a vision for the future - he just needs an environment that pulls him up. Perhaps this is one of the most important things. The word maladype in Lovári means encounter - the troupe is now ten years old, this name comes from a long time ago, when Zoli Balázs worked with actors of Gypsy origin. Now the company is different, but the name remains the same, because we like meeting new people. Both young and old. Young people make up a large base of our spectators. We often hold audience meetings after the performances, we talk with them so that there is a forum for the exchange of toughts in this form as well.

- Do their points of view surprise you? Did they ever give you anything?

- After one Platonov, one of the spectators, a young girl, talked about the light, while we barely use lighting effects in it. There is an overhead light on the stage and another rectangular line of light bulbs above our heads, to which she said it was like a negative halo to her. At the end, there is only this light above our heads, which is slowly being pulled down by the light technician - practically that's all he does in the performance - and to this the girl said that this means to her that the ideal image of Platonov is being destroyed. This is a thought that absolutely would not have occurred to me with the light we use.

- Can you use these?

- In some ways, yes, but not technically, but in terms of the role, the play's mentality. But I've had plenty of those experiences. Today in Miskolc we did a game with the guys - I was the first to act as a subject - I sat on a chair, I asked them to put aside everything they know about me - it's not like they know me that much - look at me and give me a name, an occupation, an age and in general, try to figure out who I might be. They invented things like that I am a machinist or that I am a market seller. This that's what reminded whoever said that he noticed my shoes were a little dirty - I'm dressed relatively normally, but something tells me that I'm not from the upper classes. However, several people said that I probably have a small child, that I have someone at home whom I go home to and whom I love very much. So I received such confidence-inspiring things... In addition, I was not credited with too many intellectual occupations. This is interesting because we did this game with Szabolcs Hajdú back in college, which left a deep impression on me, everyone there gave me jobs such as truck driver, melon seller and butcher... - manual job things, so nothing related to intellect. I was described as a typically aggressive figure. Now, in comparison, family and love were much more dominant, they no longer saw me as just a not very smart but aggressive person. It is very important for me to develop my brain, and this was a good feedback that now I am not only radiating that I am a creature of instinct, but that I may also be thinking about something. This exercise helps you to be aware of what other people think of you when they first see you, or what you mean in a film or photo, just because of your appearance.

- As a college student, you have practiced in many places. You were at the Centrál Theatre, the National Theatre in Szeged, and the Budapest Chamber Theater. In comparison, it seemed quite a surprising turn of events that you signed with an independent troupe. What was the reason for this?

- Zoli Balázs invited me. He watched some of our exam performances and suddenly called me to meet in a cafe. This was in the spring, shortly before Leonce and Lena's rehearsals began, and he said he wanted me to participate. He gave me quite a bit of time to think. In addition, he also said that if I said yes, then I should stay with them for one season. It is true that I went to many places, but at that time there was nothing concrete where I could go for a season. I might have had other tasks where I played, but I can't really say that, because I practically went ahead of that with my decision. After a few days of thinking, I said yes to Zoli. He offered something I couldn't say no to.

- What got you?

- On the one hand, he said that we will work with Sándor Zsótér, whom I like very much. I think that our relationship worked quite well in college and - perhaps I can say - since then; I'm not saying it's smooth, but I think we mutually enjoy working with each other. It was a great calling. He also said that we would probably do a movement performance, which also interested me, because I am absolutely not experienced in it, and I thought I could learn a lot from it. Then he also mentioned a Sicilian director, Claudio Collova, with whom we will deal with Woyzeck. Also, I was curious about him directing. I had seen Maladype performances before and I was interested in this world. It is true that Leonce and Lena are different from what they did before, but the concentration is still there. I'm not saying that when I was in college, I threw my back at every Maladype performance, but I always felt that I would like to be involved. Because even if I didn't have a cathartic experience, I still watched the performance glued to my chair, because they were so concentrated. I can believe in the power of this even if someone tells the performance that it is not good. I mainly want to study, and Maladype is perfect for that.

- In connection with everything you tell, is about what you know or were able to learn from it. Does it mean, you didn't feel ready when you graduated from college?

- No, but I don’t even feel ready now. And I hope I won't, because learning is what motivates me. By this I don’t mean to sit down over a lexicon and learn it by heart, but I am interested in all theater styles, films, music as well and I want to try many things. I've been trying to establish a band lately.

- How many instruments do you play? Because in the performances, you had a lot going on.

- Harmonica, guitar and a bit on drums. And very little on the piano. I just got a piano because I'm an instrument freak. If I have an instrument at home, sooner or later I will be able to play it somewhat, but I can only get to a certain level with it, because I have never been to a teacher - I don't have time now. What I know about instruments, I learned by myself. This knowledge is good for knowing how much I don't know. But an instrument can motivate. Yes, learning is very important, as is Maladype. This is a base for me, where I am at home, here are the people with whom I exchange thoughts every day. However, I also consider it important to work elsewhere, because it is always a new experience. You said the Chamber Theatre. The Árpád-dynasty, which I joined as a fourth-grader student, still runs there to this day. I like going in there because it's a completely different environment than this one. I feel a great freshness when I enter there, because I enter into another world. I probably wouldn't feel good if I was there all the time, but it's good to go there for one thing. There are also people there with whom I also have a lot in common. It was the same in the Central, only in a different way. I don't believe that musical or entertaining performances are not as important as thought-provoking, brain-teasing performances. You can do everything well and cultivate at a high level.

- Why, isn't The Marriage of Figaro a funny, entertaining thing? But in the meantime, life is behind it...

- That's right, that's why I say that you can find the risk in everything and you can be a professional in everything. The difference between a revue here and an American revue - it's not about anything here and it's not about anything there, just that it's good to watch - is that there a hundred dancers move perfectly at the same time, breathe at the same time, and here there is often a slight difference, which make the poles apart. Of course, this is also a generalization on my part. Everything can be done well, and I am interested in everything from that point of view. I acted in Made in Hungary, which was interesting on the one hand because it was the first feature film I took part in, and on the other hand it was a musical film in which I could play drums, sing and dance, which I also enjoyed. I am very open to such things, but at the same time it is important to have a backbone, a main direction, from where I can take with me the values ​​that I can stick to.

- It is as if this openness is also an element of Maladype's identity, since it is not uniform even in its theatrical language. Obviously there are overlaps, but it's like each one is an attempt at something new. When you play these diverse performances in repertoire, how do you deal with this? Does it motivate you to constantly be ready for this multitude of styles?

- I first encountered this problem when our repertoire began to thicken. The new shows came in, but the old ones didn't go out - which I'm very happy about, because it means that spectators still find it interesting. Leonce and Lena continues to this day, which brings us to the 80th performance.

- Moreover, it is different from night to night.

- Yes, that's why it's never boring. The plays became denser, thank God I was given quite big tasks in them, but suddenly the point came - when we already had Figaro, Lorenzaccio, Leonce, Ubu, Platonov - that we played almost every day for a week and always something different. I don't think I did well on this test at the beginning. The difficulty was that there is a rehearsal process and you get into the world of a performance, which you create together, and you have to find this world in yourself in order to be able to exist well in that performance, to exist according to the rules of the game, which is true. So Platonov is something more elegant and refined, in Ubu I have much more opportunities to play around in quotation marks. So, the two are as far apart as the poles. In such cases, what you have to do is finish the performance, learn the lessons, go home, go to bed, and the next day you put a blank page and forget that world. You keep the lesson, but you break away from its milieu. It took me a while to pick up this thread. I think it works now. But in the beginning I had difficulties, there was a time when we played Ubu one day and Platonov the next day, and I went terribly overboard. I simply retained the momentum and spin of Ubu to such an extent that it did not benefit Platonov that day. I had to make myself aware of this and pay attention to it, and fight against it. Obviously, you have to be present in a different way in a Zsótér’s performances, but I think I have now more or less absolved this task. Anyway, it's a great pleasure for me that I have the opportunity to play so much, it's a gift. At the awards gala, Mari Törőcsik said that luck matters a lot in this profession - everything else does, but luck matters a lot. I feel now - I don't want to shout it out too early (he knocks on his head) - but I am lucky because of my opportunities and tasks.

- You mentioned Mari Törőcsik. How was the meeting with her? In Figaro, she cries for you, then it turns out that she is your mother. When he received a lifetime achievement award, you earned the most promising newcomer prize. Nice parallel.

- This is terribly exciting. When we started working on Figaro, it turned out that our birthday was on the same day. In fact - I don't know how often she talks about her age, or if it's public, but - there's practically a round number between us. Specifically, 50 years. In addition, we started working together a few days before our birthday. I don't know - because of this, because of her being, it was such a meeting that it's not even true. It is very difficult to put into words. A classy one, she started rehearsing like a nuclear bomb...

- Your eyes just started to sparkle...

- She has such an impact on anyone who has spent ten minutes with her. It was also interesting that I received the Soós Imre Award last year. And she did the Carousel with Soós. I don't know, there's something really mystical about it. But the way she works should be taught. The way she is paying attention, the knowledge she has about this profession is indescribable. She can help in ways - and at the same time she has no allure or pose, because she remained so human, so youthful and contemporary that it's amazing - that you wouldn't even think about. You can always see that her brain is spinning and she is still motivated to go on stage even if there are only fifty people watching. You can still get excited about running the form you want - even if you're just trying, no matter who's watching. An artist of enormous caliber, an amazing pleasure and honor to work with her.

- Have you ever had such an impactful encounter? You said that you really wanted to work with Zsótér... Is there anyone else like that?

- Obviously with Zoli Balázs - this will be my fourth year here. It is also such an encounter: we can talk well with each other, for me he can show good guidelines that I can believe in, and this is very important. He can think with me, he is curious about me - but not only with me, but also with the other members of the troupe. He can give you a lot of tasks that you haven't come across yet. If I take this all as an extended college, then he is like a new mentor alongside Gábor Zsámbéki and Sándor Zsótér. Now I spend most of my time with him and I am never bored. There was another: I met Levente Király in King Lear when I was a fourth-grader. He is just like Törőcsik, only as a man. He has a completely different habitus, but he has enormous knowledge and life experience. He has such a forthright personality that is worth learning. He hasn't lost himself while being very loyal to his theater, where he signed up after college. You could learn a lot from him. He is very attentive to his partners - Mari Törőcsik is also like that: she is not busy with herself. This is the rarest in my opinion, but very important.

- You graduated then, four years have passed since then. If you have met such people, it is clear what you mean by that: luck.

- I also worked with Andrea Ladányi in Inferno. There are so many things to learn from her too. She is a dancer, not an actor, but the importance of presence is very similar in both. She has such an inner attitude, an attention that I admire. I think these meetings are also good for me to learn from them somehow, as it is good for me.

- The way you talk about learning, it becomes clear that for you every performance is an exam - in which you set the standard. It can be a painful to jump through this all the time.

- Mainly because you can't run your personal best every night. But you have to strive for it, if only because there are spectators who will see the performance for the first and – probably – the last time that day. Not a single opportunity should be missed. It makes sense that you reframe things night after night. This is the paradox of the acting profession, that you have to know something inside out, you have to be sure of what you want to say and how, on the other hand, you don't have to have any idea about what will happen, you have to put together the role from what you have that day inside you and what is happening on stage. To be honest, it doesn't always work out, but I think I don't go below one level and I'm trying to make it as high as possible. It is very rare for everything to come together and fly away. For a performance to be as it is in my ideal thoughts - it has never been like that. There are minutes, moments, words, sentences that come out as I think is ideal. But these already give such energy that you can build on it - in life as well. It often happens that something does not come together as it should, and in such cases I feel tension after the performance.

- Will that come out of your mind in the next performance?

- It mustn’t. It was also a mistake. If something comes together, let's say a monologue, then it is a huge mistake if you try to reproduce what happened yesterday in the next performance - of course I don't mean movements or physical situations - because the moment will slip away. Because that day you don't wake up like yesterday. No two days are the same. I try to find the state of mind in which I go into certain performances, so that I have peace of mind. If I realize this, there is a chance that I can participate well in the performance. You always have to work for every moment and every word - and I mean that in the best sense of the word. I'm not talking about aggressive and violent work, but about the energy that needs to be put into it so that what I think can be put behind it. But even one sentence can take you away, you say it, you marvel at it, you really hear it and suddenly the whole thing starts to come alive.

- In Maladype's performances, the line between your civilian presence and your role seems to blur. Of course, this is never visible, and it even seems that the need for reflection is very definite. This duality greatly defines your performances. This also requires a special technique - I think.

- Each of our performances is a little different, but they still have something in common: we, the actors who play them. I, as the Ákos Orosz, stand on stage and speak like Platonov or Figaro. Anyone who comes to the theater knows that I am Ákos Orosz, who speaks on behalf of someone. That's why this boundary will always be there, I will never transform into Platonov, who cuts everyone off - at least I hope so - but there is such a segment of my personality, just as I also have a lot of jealousy, which suddenly emerges from Figaro. You can find these connection points that match the role, at least that's what I'm looking for. But I will never become that. Besides, I can't lose control, I can't cross a line.

- This wasn't your first meeting with Platonov, because at college you did a performance called Sputnic disco based on Chekhov's play. Did that cross your mind during rehearsals?

- The Sputnic disco was not the most dominant experience for me, because I met Platonov once more in a directing exam by Dani Kovács, maybe even before last year. I played Platonov, but we only did the fourth act. It lived in me more intensively because I dealt with the role itself there, unlike in Sputnic disco. I really liked that performance, but it has little to do with our Platonov, and in addition, the second part of the fourth act goes down in a zanzanized manner. It was a very different style of a performance, so it didn't cause any difficulty.

- Maybe I read it on your website, I think it happened at Ubu that someone sneezed, and one of the actors said “Bless you!”. How does this "I'm outside, I'm inside" attitude work for you?

- This is something that Zoli Balázs asked us to do, so that we don't divide acting and non-acting attention. We do perceive what is around us. If I'm giving a monologue and an ambulance drives by, I'm talking for nothing, if I don't react, take a break, or raise my voice, otherwise it's impossible to understand what I'm saying. Here, at the Base, it cannot be missed. We have to sense what is around us, that's all it's about. Of course, there are rules of the game for a performance, somewhere this is allowed, somewhere not. Once someone in the Chamber had a coughing fit and started to leave the auditorium. The actors saw it there too, but they didn’t react to it and there is a confusion between the spectator and the actor that I see it, but I pretend I didn't see it. There will be an unspoken thing that everyone knows but just hangs in the air.

- With this, the unsustainability of the things that people pretend to do on stage becomes obvious. It's interesting because you don't want to pretend.

- Yes, because either something happens or it doesn't. I have met several times on stage that someone should shout, because in principle he is nervous, but he does not shout, but just raises his voice. Sign it. Saves energy. The audience knows that he is trying to show that he is nervous, but they also feel that he is not putting as much energy into it. I think what can work really well is if you scream, then scream. If you find yourself having a crying fit, either fight it or let it go, but don't let someone work so that your eyes water while you don't feel anything inside. Work so that you think something, it will start something in you, and if you feel sorry for yourself, then feel sorry for yourself, but if you don't, then don't do it, but accept that you have that much in you right now. On the other hand, in Figaro, Zsótér specifically asked us not to communicate directly with the spectators. Compared to his other performances, this is a different kind of rule because, for example, in Lorenzaccio - which is also his direction - we communicate a lot with the audience. Of course, in Figaro you can't miss the fact that people are sitting there, but we don't react to them one-on-one, we don't speak out, it's a rule that we don't always do the same thing. However, nothing is carved in stone, all rules can be broken.

- The premiere of Leonce was held in the Bárka, then you moved to the Base, which is actually an apartment. How did this decision affect you? Does this space, which is less familiar to spectators, cause any surprises?

- The company first moved to Thália from Bárka, we were there for a year, and only after we came here. When you think about it, being in a black room with only artificial light all day isn't really a very comforting thing. And here is a place really connected to life, the sun shines. You don't see a lot of light in college and theater, but here you do.

- It changes the medium.

- Yes. But in the meantime, a performance or a medium does not depend on where you work, but on what kind of people do it. I didn't see the apartment as how scary it would be playing here, but that we would have our own place where we wouldn't have to adapt to anything or anyone. Where we can go up at any time. And that's a great thing.

- Is this freedom important?

- Pretty much. It is important that we can hold an audience meeting at any time, no one tells us how long we can stay. We are also very lucky with the house, because the community is good, we have never had any conflicts. I think they also like that we are here. We love this place and it's good to come here. Different, but still not different: attention, concentration, work ethic are the same as in Thália or Bárka.

- You mentioned concentration many times. What does this mean, when does your concentration start for a performance?

- I haven't thought about that yet. I think it's constantly changing for me. For King Lear, I always went in an hour and a half before the performance, I took my text, I wasn't bald then, I had longer hair, so I went to the hairdressers, fixed my hair, put on the costume and sat, said my text to myself, trying to concentrate. I realized that this doesn't work. Then it happened that I wanted to go in at the last minute. Not caring about the whole thing, but to go in, put on the clothes, push the hair and head for the stage. That's how I was able to function well. I am also like that with Leonce and Lena. I discuss a couple of things with my partners beforehand, but I put on the costume, go on stage and it all starts there. However, with Platonov, I changed clothes an hour before. We often rehearse before a performance, which is important, it’s a part of the preparation phase - but there is always a break before the performance. With Platonov, it is important that I have the costume on long before, in other performances this does not excite me. I can relate to this where the concentration starts, I look for the state when I can calmly go on stage, when I can take responsibility for myself. This always changes, depending on the role, the piece, whether it is a text- or movement-centric performance. Of course, when we are already deep into the season, there is not always a rehearsal, but I also like it when we just rush into the performance, because you can explode like a bomb. Many times I overprepared and overconcentrated myself, but when that doesn’t help after a while, it makes you tense up. You think about everything so much that you cringe at the thought of it coming together.

- Maladype is often referred to as the company of Zoltán Balázs. To what extent you work as a community, to what extent is Maladype really a company?

- Zoli Balázs is the leader, but every rehearsal process starts with, for example, a long-term joint analysis. We don't get the textbook of the performance, we don't know the cast yet, we are analyzing the original play. And since no one knows what they're going to play, everyone is motivated to engage with the whole thing. Zoli doesn't usually put the solutions in our mouths, but we sit down and ask questions. Also, we are now increasingly talking about ourselves. This does not mean that he does not have a direction in front of his eyes, I never felt unprepared or someone who could not be asked about anything, but he just keeps asking. He also made us improvise a lot. Platonov, for example, was preceded by a fairly long rehearsal process, but the performance is a fixed version of a final, week-and-a-half-long improvisation. King Ubu too. For this, of course, he offers a space, a textbook, a lot of everything, but all this is to open the brains of his actors. He doesn't force what he wants on us, since we are all independent, thinking beings - and that's why we're here, because we think it's important. For example, the fact that I received this award, that I am something in my roles, is not only up to me. I'm not a big player on my own, I hope I will be, but if I didn't have colleagues like they are, people like them surrounding me, I might even be a more lost figure for the time being. I would really work on myself, I would really try to find myself - I'm not saying that I don't have faith in myself, because I do - but if you can work with someone on stage, it strengthens you.

This is also a big responsibility. You asked what it's like to switch from one role to another. After a while, I realized that being on stage all the time comes with responsibility. If I have twenty scenes, but someone only has three, then I can't spoil his scenes. I have to respect him by paying attention and not being busy with myself. So that I can present him with such attention that he can get something out of these three occasions as well. This is one of the most important things in Maladype - I consider everyone here capable of gifting each other with this attention.

- What does this award mean to you? The award for the most promising newcomer came to you at the last moment, it can be received in maximum three years after college. Is this a message for you after all? How are you being watched?

- Interesting things happen to me in life. I never thought I would get such an award. My admission was also successful, I think, because I worked to seize as much as possible of the opportunity to be there for a week and meet something. I'm the same with my roles: I don't work to please someone, but - I can only mention this here - to dig deeper into myself, to learn as much as possible about my colleagues and the material I deal with. If this is honored with an award, it is a wonderful thing. I was touched by it, I mean it. I was also surprised at the Imre Soós award, it was also a surprise out of the blue. The truth is that I'm not really good at it, I only wondered if there was such a prize. I was very happy, but I had no idea this even existed. I knew about the Theatre Critics Award, but I didn't know when and how it was presented. It feels good to be noticed and recognized for my work.

- You can't rehearse a role thinking that I'm going to get an award for it.

- I don't even think about these performances in the way that I am in them as the main character or any other character, but that we do it together. That's why it's important to have good colleagues. Even during a rehearsal process, it's about how to make the performance better, how to get as close as possible to the role, and I'm not thinking about what kind of role I'll play - I don't even like that word. Obviously, people like to be liked, especially an actor. It's nice to receive feedback, especially since things have not been easy lately. But I don't want to go into that right now.

- What are your plans this year?

- Schiller: Don Carlos and Goethe: Egmont - we will now deal with these. In these two plays - Goethe and Schiller had a strange relationship anyway - there is one role that is the same, Prince Alba. Don Carlos takes place in the Spanish royal court and it is about an uprising in Flanders, and Don Carlos wants to go there to represent liberal, humane values. However, Prince Alba also wants to go there to suppress everything and enforce the king's will. Egmont is about the fact that we are in Flanders and the Duke of Alba finally arrives - this is the connection between the two pieces, which is why we reached for it, as it can show both sides of the coin. This is the plan. We will have plenty of time for it, we will hold the premiere in December. It's true, we deal with a lot of things in the meantime. We travel a lot and the troupe is ten years old this year: there will be a week when we will play our previous performances and talk and there will also be a gala... Now that I think about it, maybe we don't have that much time...

Attila Nyulassy, ​​István Ugrai, 7óra7, 2011

Translation by Zsuzsanna Juraszek