Once you breathe clean air, it's hard to live in pollution - Interview with Daniela Magiaru / 2016
To mark the 100th anniversary of Dadaism, Maladype Theatre, in co-production with Gábor Gábriel Farkas's band, presents Matei Vișniec's play Dada Cabaret.
The premiere will take place on October 20, 2016, at the Átrium Film-Theatre as part of the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival. A conversation with Romanian theatre critic, translator, researcher of the world-famous author's works, and dramaturg of the upcoming performance, Daniela Magiaru.
This is not your first encounter with Maladype and its artistic director, Zoltán Balázs. What is the reason for this seemingly close relationship?
The reason is as simple as can be: Zoltán Balázs creates theatre that I strongly believe in: theatre that lives in the present. This is possible because he follows a path that is both exploratory and authentic. There is nothing superfluous, nothing superficial, nothing that cannot be found in our long-standing thoughts and reflections. It is a special encounter of elements that unite in elegance and harmony. The naturalness of the movements, the originality of the ideas and their implementation, and the sharpness of observation are captivating. These are simple guidelines that, when followed, lead us to a particularly complex world whose depths are purposeful and revealing. A path that is constantly reinterpreted and explored without compromising healthy norms. At Maladype, you can experience a theatre that you will want to see again and again. An experience that is whole and complete, and once you have been part of it, it is difficult to desire anything else. Once you have breathed in the clean air, it is difficult to live in pollution.
In 2013, Maladype Theatre organized Matei Vișniec Days, during which the author's work "The story of the panda bears told by a saxophonist who has a girlfriend in Frankfurt" was presented as a reading theatre performance. You were present at the event series together with Matei Vișniec. In the spring of 2016, Zoltán Balázs directed the writer's play “How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients” in Chicago, and now his visionary absurd Dada Cabaret at the Átrium Film-Theatre, for which you visited Budapest again. It seems to me that there is a strong intention to develop a long-term, quality relationship between the two artists. What are the shared values that you think connect the writer and the director?
I believe in the power of encounters. I was sure that an encounter between artists of this calibre would create an environment for real dialogue and spark ideas. Writer Matei Vișniec and director Zoltán Balázs believe in the space afforded by freedom and the reflection offered by art, and they both cherish this freedom. Thorough research and observation are fundamental tools for both of them. They both contribute their unique thoughts and honesty to the whole, emphasizing the need for freedom and creating a natural and refined language. For both of them, searching is a basic need, as is the joy of play. I believe that the tools they use—one on paper, the other on stage—resonate well with each other and have tremendous power. There are common themes that echo throughout their respective works. In our world, where values are confused and often turned upside down, we may need such compasses.
You are a renowned researcher of Matei Vișniec, arguably his most authoritative chronicler. Your first book, titled “Matei Visniec – Mirajul cuvintelor calde” (The Illusion of Beautiful Words), was published in 2010, during Maladype's tenth anniversary season. If my information is correct, you already studied the playwright's work during your doctoral studies. How would you describe the essence of Vișniec's vision?
Yes, I had the opportunity to work with Matei Vișniec's writings and I continue to enjoy researching them. They are written in a style that impresses with its language and universal depth. His works speak to different levels of sensitivity through multiple twists and turns and reinterpretations of form and content, which is why we see his ideas realized in such diverse ways. His theatre is a joy to read and perform in diverse cultural contexts. Anyone who approaches Vișniec's texts (be they poetry, plays, or prose) is immediately struck by the unique composition of the fragments, their sensitivity, and their poeticism. In addition, Vișniec is an author who has a strong connection to the world around him, longing for both horror and wonder. He is attached to a world in which brainwashing coexists with beauty, in which people hinder themselves and set limits for themselves, but in which the path to dreams can also be found. It is a constant balancing act between crying and laughing, between irony and poetry. I would say that there are themes that the author captures with precision in a language that dresses itself in the clothes of seduction, captivates you, encourages dialogue, and invites you to discover an entire universe.
In addition to Visniec’s work and Maladype, you also work with other theatres. Will you travel abroad from Budapest, or will you return to Romania? When and where can we read your next writings?
I am returning to Romania, but my thoughts are filled with other countries. I currently have a few translation projects in the pipeline, the next ones representing an area—theatre for young people—that is very little explored in Romania, unfairly so. I will continue to explore the Vișniec universe by following the author's latest texts, which cast a powerful anchor into the layers of today's world; and in a few days, Zoltán Balázs and I will continue our joint work here in Budapest. I plan to continue writing studies and articles that aim to shed light on contemporary theatre: I am researching how illness becomes a question of identity in relation to a performance or drama. For me, articles in cultural journals remain the most important, especially those in the cultural journal Orizont, which has been providing me with opportunities for dialogue for ten years now.
Zsolt Oláh, Műút, 2016
Translated by Lena Megyeri
The premiere will take place on October 20, 2016, at the Átrium Film-Theatre as part of the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival. A conversation with Romanian theatre critic, translator, researcher of the world-famous author's works, and dramaturg of the upcoming performance, Daniela Magiaru.
This is not your first encounter with Maladype and its artistic director, Zoltán Balázs. What is the reason for this seemingly close relationship?
The reason is as simple as can be: Zoltán Balázs creates theatre that I strongly believe in: theatre that lives in the present. This is possible because he follows a path that is both exploratory and authentic. There is nothing superfluous, nothing superficial, nothing that cannot be found in our long-standing thoughts and reflections. It is a special encounter of elements that unite in elegance and harmony. The naturalness of the movements, the originality of the ideas and their implementation, and the sharpness of observation are captivating. These are simple guidelines that, when followed, lead us to a particularly complex world whose depths are purposeful and revealing. A path that is constantly reinterpreted and explored without compromising healthy norms. At Maladype, you can experience a theatre that you will want to see again and again. An experience that is whole and complete, and once you have been part of it, it is difficult to desire anything else. Once you have breathed in the clean air, it is difficult to live in pollution.
In 2013, Maladype Theatre organized Matei Vișniec Days, during which the author's work "The story of the panda bears told by a saxophonist who has a girlfriend in Frankfurt" was presented as a reading theatre performance. You were present at the event series together with Matei Vișniec. In the spring of 2016, Zoltán Balázs directed the writer's play “How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients” in Chicago, and now his visionary absurd Dada Cabaret at the Átrium Film-Theatre, for which you visited Budapest again. It seems to me that there is a strong intention to develop a long-term, quality relationship between the two artists. What are the shared values that you think connect the writer and the director?
I believe in the power of encounters. I was sure that an encounter between artists of this calibre would create an environment for real dialogue and spark ideas. Writer Matei Vișniec and director Zoltán Balázs believe in the space afforded by freedom and the reflection offered by art, and they both cherish this freedom. Thorough research and observation are fundamental tools for both of them. They both contribute their unique thoughts and honesty to the whole, emphasizing the need for freedom and creating a natural and refined language. For both of them, searching is a basic need, as is the joy of play. I believe that the tools they use—one on paper, the other on stage—resonate well with each other and have tremendous power. There are common themes that echo throughout their respective works. In our world, where values are confused and often turned upside down, we may need such compasses.
You are a renowned researcher of Matei Vișniec, arguably his most authoritative chronicler. Your first book, titled “Matei Visniec – Mirajul cuvintelor calde” (The Illusion of Beautiful Words), was published in 2010, during Maladype's tenth anniversary season. If my information is correct, you already studied the playwright's work during your doctoral studies. How would you describe the essence of Vișniec's vision?
Yes, I had the opportunity to work with Matei Vișniec's writings and I continue to enjoy researching them. They are written in a style that impresses with its language and universal depth. His works speak to different levels of sensitivity through multiple twists and turns and reinterpretations of form and content, which is why we see his ideas realized in such diverse ways. His theatre is a joy to read and perform in diverse cultural contexts. Anyone who approaches Vișniec's texts (be they poetry, plays, or prose) is immediately struck by the unique composition of the fragments, their sensitivity, and their poeticism. In addition, Vișniec is an author who has a strong connection to the world around him, longing for both horror and wonder. He is attached to a world in which brainwashing coexists with beauty, in which people hinder themselves and set limits for themselves, but in which the path to dreams can also be found. It is a constant balancing act between crying and laughing, between irony and poetry. I would say that there are themes that the author captures with precision in a language that dresses itself in the clothes of seduction, captivates you, encourages dialogue, and invites you to discover an entire universe.
In addition to Visniec’s work and Maladype, you also work with other theatres. Will you travel abroad from Budapest, or will you return to Romania? When and where can we read your next writings?
I am returning to Romania, but my thoughts are filled with other countries. I currently have a few translation projects in the pipeline, the next ones representing an area—theatre for young people—that is very little explored in Romania, unfairly so. I will continue to explore the Vișniec universe by following the author's latest texts, which cast a powerful anchor into the layers of today's world; and in a few days, Zoltán Balázs and I will continue our joint work here in Budapest. I plan to continue writing studies and articles that aim to shed light on contemporary theatre: I am researching how illness becomes a question of identity in relation to a performance or drama. For me, articles in cultural journals remain the most important, especially those in the cultural journal Orizont, which has been providing me with opportunities for dialogue for ten years now.
Zsolt Oláh, Műút, 2016
Translated by Lena Megyeri