The new production of Maladype, Roberto Zucco, was made in coproduction. The director, Ivica Buljan, is known for pushing his actors hard, making them perform strenuous physical exercises. How do you feel in the days leading up to the premiere?

- Naturally, there is some tension inside me, which increases as the premiere day approaches, so I am already looking forward to it. I am curious about the audience's opinion and how they will receive our work, in which we invested a lot of energy. Each day takes a lot out of me; I feel like it’s more and more because Ivica demands intense physical work from us. But it’s worth the effort! I also believe that we must stay fit both physically and mentally, and that’s what the daily warm-ups and strengthening exercises serve, which we now start the day with. We are adding our bodies to the performance. Ivica truly asks the maximum from us so that an energetic show is created, and we want to contribute as much as we can to the play. We also dedicate our physical exhaustion to the cause, though we sweat a lot in the process. But you get something for something...

- What was it like mentally to work with Ivica?

- It was stirring. Ivica encouraged us not to be afraid of extremes, and if we play a game, we should try to get the most out of it. He suggested that we think of ourselves like a Rubik’s Cube, something that can be twisted and turned to show different sides. He believed that free experimentation is part of getting to know a given situation, and that exaggerations can be refined. That’s what we did. During the work, it became clear that you cannot approach such an extreme topic without being affected by it. We had to let the text, the story affect us. The extreme life situations and themes we deal with in this performance demanded bold experiments. Sometimes it was hard and painful to look inside ourselves, face things, and sometimes we found ourselves in uncomfortable situations, but we were able to commit ourselves to the work. Part of this was also that we felt Ivica trusted us.

- How do you apply what you learned at Maladype when working with a foreign director?

- Now, when working with Ivica, his system of rules was the guiding one, but we all took advantage of the opportunity that the meeting offered, with curiosity towards each other. Ivica shared his thoughts with us, and it was the same in reverse. I believe that once we learn something, we don’t lose it. What I’ve gathered so far is mine. In each piece of work, my task is to enrich the existing experiences with new ones, but I have to approach the new challenge in such a way that I can actively apply the abilities I’ve already acquired.

- One of the central concepts in Maladype's philosophy is the so-called "human actor". How does this type of acting manifest in Roberto Zucco?

- It was actually one of our audience members who first put it this way: that in Maladype, you see "human actors" – this felt really good to us. We’ve felt this definition is our own ever since. Zoli Balázs also encourages us not to forget that the actor is also a human being who was born as such, and only later became an actor. As Roberto Zucco, I strive for this too. Zucco’s story is a human one, just one that shows a darker side of the world and human nature. Zucco was born a human, but became a killer. There are no words for his massacres; when he was caught, he still screamed that he was not a murderer, that his name wasn’t even Roberto Zucco. He simply ignored the reports about him. His killings seemed valid only for that moment... He considered himself normal, even though he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. On one social media site, there are original videos of the "showman" Zucco, who spoke to the people on the street from the roof of the prison, waving and gesturing constantly – all this while wearing only underwear and throwing roof tiles onto the cars parked in the street below. If we only saw that and didn’t know he was a killer, we would simply call him mad. However, Zucco is more than that; there’s a terrifying exhibitionism and a sense of freedom that radiates from him. Both attractive and repulsive at the same time... How is this possible? Where does the murderous tendency in a person lie? Why do we kill without reason? Are we responsible for our killers? Is it possible for a murderer to become a hero? These are some of the very human questions that Koltés’ play grapples with.

- What thoughts bring you closer to the character?

- Zucco does what we often think about doing, but don’t, because we follow moral rules. He crosses the boundaries. His story is like a nightmare where an evil fairy makes your worst wish come true in a way you didn’t even dare to imagine. But in his case, there’s no waking up from the dream, because he must realize that he was awake all along. Zucco creates another world for himself because he can’t live in the existing one anymore, he feels threatened by it. He has no normal self-esteem, he becomes easily unstable, and immediately starts to defend himself and go on the offensive, like an instinctively acting animal. It’s not easy to fight with him.

- You graduated as a puppeteer, and now you play leading dramatic roles. How do you feel you’ve changed since university?

- That’s hard to say... I consider myself a long-distance runner, trying to use and manage my energy as best as I can... I think with my perseverance and the trust placed in me, I move forward step by step. Even though university is behind me, I don’t want to lose the experiences I gained there. Fortunately, within Maladype, I can still use my "puppet brain," and the others are receptive to my madness and ideas. I play with a former teacher of mine – now a colleague – Gyöngyi Blasek, in Don Carlos and Egmont – and that’s a special joy for me.

- With Ákos Orosz, you are the leading male actors of Maladype. Is there a healthy competitive spirit between you?

- I consider Ákos a great actor – persistent, a perfectionist, an energy bomb, a good person, and fortunately, I can call him my friend. We both know that you can’t win a race in a kayak-canoe pair if one of you is paddling backward. We’re both focused on getting the best out of each other for a common goal, and that goal is for what the audience sees in the evening to be real, here and now.

Kata Koroknyai, szinhaz.hu, 2013

Translation by Zsuzsanna Juraszek