A collaboration between the Radnóti Theatre, the Golem Theatre, the Goethe Institute, the Austrian Cultural Forum and the Czech Centre at the Golem Theatre and Jewish Performing Arts Centre.
Franz Kafka died a hundred years ago, but his characters seem to be still alive today. It is as if the prisoner and his torturer who were tortured in the prison camp, the resident who refused to leave his Oduja, and The Starving Artist were still alive. As if he lived with us, as if he lived in us.
As if he lived.
As if he were alive – but is he alive? Is life the constant torture and torment, the confinement, the voluntary starvation, is life the giving up of our freedom?
We all face these questions in our lives – but the Kafkaesque absurdity lies precisely in its exaggerated portrayal of everyday situations. These seemingly big questions are answered by three different directors from three different directions. And if the answer is always the same? Well, that would be Kafkaesque enough.
„Our basic creative intention is to explore the forms of cruelty and passion associated with public executions, and to do this we try to establish a direct relationship with the prospective audience, looking for different ways of representing violence. Let’s reach into the belly of the spectator and grab him by the stomach and shake him until he finds satisfaction in the circus of execution.” (Simon Regős)
„The sole pleasure of the mole-like denizen is comfort and predictability. He burrows into his burrow, listens to the noises outside and talks and talks, uncontrollably. The isolation from the world gives him security and pleasure, he feels HAPPY! If only it weren’t for the dread of having the door of his den slammed in from all directions. But nothing changes. How long do the boundaries of our identity last; do we enclose our fears or do they enclose us?” (Sára Sahin-Tóth)
„Kafka’s texts were ingrained in my gut about 30 years ago, during my high school years. I thought a lot about them – and dreamed a lot about them; and I was always interested in the possibility of putting them on stage. The character of the starving artist is in every aging artist. The desire for success, for love, for recognition, with the realisation that there is no longer an infinite time to create as there was when they were young; and the comic and tragic aspects of it all. A funny and painful text. The time has come for me to touch it.” (András Borgula)
In his last message, Franz Kafka asked his friend Max Brod to burn everything the writer left behind unread after his death. But Brod did not comply with Kafka’s wishes. He published his letters, diaries and reworked his unfinished novels – keeping one of the most influential artists of the 20th century among us.
Almost as if they were alive.
Premier: 24 November 2024.
The performance is recommended for children over 16 years of age.
CAST:
Berényi Nóra Blanka
Gazsó György
Kozma Veronika e.h.
Major Erik
Dramaturg: Virág Németh
Set and costume design: Hanga Balla, Pauline Helen Stephan (students of stage and film set design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna)
Music: mdmx, Arleta Berndorff
Lyrics: Ferenc Réder
Translators: Ede Szabó, István Eörsi, Dezső Tandori
Director’s assistant: Eszter Kóti
Directors: Simon Regős, Sára Sahin-Tóth, András Borgula
István Eörsi’s heirs’ permission was mediated by Hofra Kft.
