It is a captivating tale for adults, about how petty greatness can be, what it can be, when everything gets confused under the title of love, and those things can degenerate into the battle of genders, in which should be something graceful. While it does not become a question, that good ones will gain their well-deserved reward, and there are not any real bad ones, only those, who have been cheated and the cheaters, there are better and worse players. All of them are players, those who write the rules, and those who suffer from them.

In this performance, everybody’s heart has feelings, only sometimes they lose directions, as the old Marceline cheerfully mentions it, after she has almost made the young, handsome Figaro marry her, meanwhile he is her property, – a long time ago lost – her son. One thing is for sure: Figaro needs love and money. Suzanne loves him and she would have a good marriage portion, but in spite of the fact, that the Count Almaviva deleted the right of the first night personally, now he would like to get it from Suzanne with pleasure, if he has to – and seems to have – with blackmail too. All these are enough for the couple, who seems to be matching and loving, to use the confusing material of men and women inside the castle, and try to do the impossible act. They try to get the goat feed well, and keep the cabbage too, and they would be even more cabbage at the end of feeding, than before – there will be, it is not a question too.

The nice simplicity, which is so characteristic to the heroes of comedies, simple mass of style parody, easy artificiality and cheerful sketchy nature, which can be connected to the topic all these the Maladype does not accept very consciously. They threw away the clichés of entertaining industry, they start operating with real, complex, feeling-understanding-thinking figures, who have fate, and with real, living relationships between the characters, not at the expanse of something, but in the interest of it. They do not get anything form the comedy with it, but use extremely the colourful possibilities of performance, which are opened thanks for the complex interpretation. Every condition is given for it by Júlia Ungár’s text for stage, which was transposed into the modern world with cheerful easiness from the old-styled surroundings of the castle. If this text is from Beaumarchais, or not, it is indifferent form the point of view of the performance, as connection with style it is “trendy” with the whole meaning of the word, from any points of view, and the built up characters are there so perfectly as Mari Benedek’s costumes, which elegantly polemicize with the place. In that way the tale can get over itself, and can start moving in a place, where this story does not become and easy get and give of love, but an emotional and powerful chaos of order, which the heroes need to settle as soon as possible in their own well-understood interest.

Of course, the road is funny and capricious, but on the playground, which is defined by pride, vanity, jealousy, faintheartedness and desire the heroes are pusher here and there as flipper balls, but they are not the victims of accidental happenings, they come from somewhere, and go on somewhere. Sándor Zsóter organises the performance mostly around it. Judit Kovács Ligeti takes a long journey because of it, between the confused, humiliated wife, who has been stripped of confidence and the countess, who can fulfil herself again in her femininity. Ádám Tompa’s Count Almaviva, who is led by his desires, from the arrogant comfort of wealth of power, has to always face up with the fact, the power is for nothing, he is not the player, others play with him. Ákos Orosz’s Figaro comes from under, and gets far; he is exactly as clever and talented intriguer, as Erika Tankó’s Suzanne is. It is not accidental that the air is so burning between them, and the battle for the award of the greater intriguer improves into the fight of man and woman, where the bet is as exhilarating, as ruining jealousy is, and desired the victory is. Marceline is looking for this victory too, Mari Törőcsik can move with such cruel punctuality and excellent feeling of style, between the extremity of girlish, lazy cruelty and the proud self-awareness that we have to be very skilful to be able to decide to love or not this woman. (We cannot avoid loving her.) Kamilla Fátyol’s Fanchette loves blindly in a girlish way Zénó Faragó’s teenager-like cramped Cherubin. Zsolt Páll performs a Bartholo, who tries to avoid all responsibilities. Zoltán Lendváczky in all the other roles (that are not connected to the multi angle of the love) performs witty and ingeniously. All these are in one of the rooms of a flat on the first floor of a building on Mikszáth Square, it happens between some lamps, singing sets and properties.

(In reality we do not miss anything. Only a little gesture remained unopened. If some sentences were not so overtone to the political a social situation of today, we would not recognise, but Ákos Orosz in Figaro’s monologue talks about power and his relation to it, emphasised and strongly. He says that he is a talented person, who has tried many things, he tries to live well in many ways, but he is always made impossible to do it. Then he broke under the weight of power, he tries to be its friend, but it benefits on him, it abuses his trust, so all of his possibilities have been taken and all his probes have failed. All background of the said things can be found in Ákos Orosz’s performance; the bet, the experience of disappointment, the way he tries to be fast, punctual and perfect, but then he remains without any counterpoints. Ádám Tompa is connected well to the naïve and innocent fairy tale like nature, from this point of view, he does not rise to another level Count Almavia, he cannot become that power, which finally forces Figaro to change his talent into coins. But probably now we are talking about another performance, so let’s keep it in brackets.)

The two act long performance is very entertaining and fairy tale-like, where man and woman, love and desire are against each other not the good and bad. So on the one hand, we cannot write the topic down with silly clichés, on the other hand, me must see that we can be entertained that way too, that we take all outspoken words seriously, because of it all can remain easy and airy. This Figaro is so complex and easy to accept it, and it is a rare bird – it worth taking a closer look too.

Balázs Zsedényi, 7óra7, 2011

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)