A Season’s Ups and Downs
Since her ensemble was founded in 1997, choreographer Yvette Bozsik’s dance group belongs to the most characteristic independent companies. Our first column analyzes their current situation; like many others, the company encountered serious problems as the new Hungarian government, facing the lack of state budget, retained one third of the sector’s financial support. This decision proved to be a serious setback for the whole Hungarian dance society, as due to the strict regulations of the new Theatre Law, most ensembles qualified as independent companies. We interviewed Yvette Bozsik about the company’s present, their perspectives and current relation with their host theatre, the problems of funding and the overall situation of Hungarian contemporary dance. Remastered, the choreographer’s latest performance in Trafó, is presented in a separate essay.
In our next column we focus on two dance festivals marking the end of the season. The Festival of Dance in Veszprém and the Hungarian Dance Festival in Győr offer a good chance to analyse current trends and tendencies. Reviews are written by Edit Barta and Sándor Hegedűs.
A long partnership ended when one of the most significant theatre directors, János Mohácsi left the Kaposvár Theatre because of the change of management. Since then the director has worked in various theatres: he directed a Caragiale piece (The Lost Letter) in Pécs and a Michael Frayn play (Noises Off), which was originally prepared for the Kaposvár ensemble, in Szatmárnémeti. He staged The Peasant Opera by Béla Pintér and Benedek Darvas in Pécs and completed the season by directing Ede Tóth’s Devil of the Village in Kaposvár. István Sándor L. interviewed the director on his current works during the POSZT Theatre Festival.
The message of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, a Brecht piece staged in the Örkény Theatre, is still clear and illuminating; the performance directed by Sándor Zsótér was the season’s outstanding event. In the interview with the director we interviewed his team: set designer Mária Ambrus and translator-dramaturge Júlia Ungár.
