Creative Energies

In drama and dance it is equally exceptional to create a triptych that encompasses several years of work and yet retains the initial freshness of ideas. Péter Kovács Gerzson seems to have accomplished that; with his piece entitled Eternity Products (Örök élet termékek) the leader and choreographer of TranzDanz added the final touch to the sequence of Transit (Tranzit) and Banquet (Bankett). Human existence's 21st century anomalies are skillfully depicted by the choreography, points out Márta Péter in her detailed review.

Hungary's leading alternative playhouse, the Katona József Theatre was founded quarter of a century ago; we took a glimpse into the past to make an overview of these 25 years. Coming back to the present, we offer a review on Shakespeare's Macbeth put to stage by Gábor Zsámbéki, director of the theatre. We interviewed Károly Hajduk, the actor playing the title role, who starred several important Katona performances and cooperates regularly with Viktor Bodó, a gifted young director also referred to in our current issue. Our other interviewee is the company's leading director, Gábor Máté; we asked him about the sequel entitled Notorious (Notóriusok) by which the theatre pays homage to several companies and artists of Hungarian drama who defined the Katona-identity as know it today. Finally we touch upon the upcoming premières of this season including Ödön von Horváth's A Sexual Congess (Mit csinál a kongresszus) directed by Tamás Ascher, Biljana Srbljanovic's Locusts (Sáskák) directed by Gábor Máté and Bernard-Marie Koltès' Black Battles with Dogs (A néger és a kutyák harca) directed by Sándor Zsótér.

Gábor Máté's first performance with students of his graduated actor class was housed by the Zsámbék Summer Theater two years ago. This became part of a sequel and the artists plan to create a performance about each of the former students: this year's piece portrayed Anna Szandtner.

Zsámbék also housed an interesting piece by Csaba Horváth; the remarkable choreographer's newest work entitled Passion (Passió) was created for his newly founded dance company, ForteDanse.

Amongst other summer performances at Zsámbék we reviewed Viktor Bodó's Midsummer Night's Dream (Szentivánéji álom). Viktor Bodó played at the Katona Theatre since graduating from college but this year he quit the theatre and founded his own company, the Sputnik Shipping Inc. (Szputnyik Hajózási Társaság). Besides his new formation several young actors contributed to the creation of Midsummer Night's Dream.