Rolling in Budapest Cultural information in English … Hear everything first hand

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A COMBINATION OF REALITY AND DREAM

MAN OF LA MANCHA

TUESDAY – AUGUST, 7. 2012.

The production started  6.30 p.m. on sharp along with an accompanied live music group.

In the previous years the SZIGET audience could have had insight of dance, circus, visual arts, classical music productions. This year was the first time after 19 years the SZIGET festival designed the presence of a circus tent to be able to introduce productions to the theater lovers.

This year’s on the 20th anniversary of the SZIGET Festival was enriched by a new initiative with  a circus ring under a tent. The famous Wasserman, Leigh and Darion musical, the Man of La Mancha  production was performed by the  JÓKAI Theater from the City of Békéscsaba on the Day-Zero.  The play has a switch knob compared to the original story. The director Mr. Pál Fekete, placed a part of  the act scene back to the ’50s Hungary, when people just being ordinary people were feared by the communism of being collected and moved into different kind of camps.  Then here comes the poet, Cervantes, who has stories for them of  trying to give faith back to the prisoners. This was the director’s interesting  combination connected to the ’50s past era in Hungary and the Man of the La Mancha (Don Quijote). Those foreigners from the West had some “blackouts”  at  the scene when the “Pobeda” made, black color vehicle rolls into the rig.  Most probably thought how on the earth comes this scene to the original play. The youngsters may have had no idea of what the car has to do in the play, which symbolized the fear during the communism.  At the end as I talked to some, they put the pieces of puzzles together.

The JÓKAI Theater and the SZIGET brought something that caught many attention, not only locals, but foreigners to go-sit-watch the well-known story of the MAN OF LA MANCHA  instead of sitting at one of the outside pubs and drinking a cool beer.

By the beginning of the musical, inside the tent it was completely full, no seats available, but many just stood at the entrance and exit pathways, even sat on the floor. In front of me sat a young couple and saw they were  absolutely present by watching with  all their senses. At the end following one-by-one, folks stood up, cheered and constantlywere clapping. Asked the young couple, how did they go on by following the play. They told me, even though they don’t understand a word of Hungarian, they were able to follow the musical, only had some trouble to follow what and why  the black color car collected people, but indeed enjoyed dropping by the tent theater to see this musical. Also told me they are from Germany and beside going to other European gigs, this is their 4th year coming to the SZIGET Festival and enjoyed the culture being brought to the festival. Not only them, but almost everyone was loose in cloths and flipped around in flip-flops. Haa, to enjoy culture events doesn’t always need to be dressed in smoking to be able to enjoy a good production. Guess, now-a-days  it’s not the dress that makes someone enjoy a good production.

The original musical’s length of time is two hours, here at the SZIGET the production was brought to a shorten version.

The five-time winning play was on stage by the following Jokai Theater’s actors and actresses:  Mr. Antal Cerna, Mr. György Szomor, Mr. Lajos Csomós, Ms. Erika Lapis, Mr. Ferenc Jancsik, Mr. Ferenc Katkó, Ms. Orsolya Ceselényi, Mr. Lajos Szabó, Mr. Attila Gulyás, Ms. Erika  Nagy, Ms. Erika Steinkohl, Ms. Anett Komaromi, Ms. Adrienn Cseh,  Gábor Vadász, Mr. Róbert Nagy, by Mr Arpad  Burány, Mr. Péter Mlinár, Mr. Norbert SzÅ‘ke. Mr. S. Albert Gabor.

Director Mr. Péter Fekete.

The Act does not stand of just platitudes, the sentences are eternal truths, which cannot be repeated enough times.

At the porondin the artists, I mean the actors and actresses surely have made an unforgettable evening of  Day-Zero at the SZIGET Festival 2012.

AND …

Last but not least …  for those who would like to hum along and refresh their memos by seeing/hearing the unforgettable  Mr.Peter O’Toole performance:

Update and snaps: Aggie Reiter