Róbert Balogh: Good bye Europe, Europe, good bye!
Report about two performances of the POSZT
"During poor time why do we need poets?" Hölderlin asked it. The question of form and time, of the aesthetic value, of the vison of world and its value of truth. Are there these kinds of values anymore? Can we reflect on these classical works with that effect and power after the common horizon of analyses, which has disappeared? (Of course, we can, and have to if we have an inner desire to face up with these shiny desires with dark power, with visions which is partly connected to theatre. We do not care about the common horizon of analyses but I am not a Gadamer...)
Paolo Magnelli - Alexander Balanescu - Željka Udovičič: Good bye Europe, Europe good bye! National Theatre of Miskolc; Director: Paolo Magnelli
"This is the only play of ‘56. This text is written based on improvisations, according to memories from school. Balanescu’s music has an incredibly interesting relationship with the performance. The verbal and motion theatre parts have sad effects, that kind which we all could feel, who lived then. This is a very serious performance. I love it very much." /András Márton /
The performance from Miskolc is connected to the troupe. The picture of stage makes me remember The Dead Class, that product was not that memorable anyway, but something really moved on the stage, when the experience of creators seemed to be reliable on the side of acceptance too. This is a special state of action, that some part of the audience knows the object of the performance, their own life and past only form the books while the others do it from their own life experiences – the acceptance of them is hardened a bit (what is that Riga? – someone asked me). The humour on stage was built on elements of motion and verbal theatre. (The verbal part gets two on a scale of five, but not everybody can be born to be writer!) The one thing why we can like the performance, Good bye Europe, Europe good bye! is its manageable size. “We are just signs, and there is nothing behind us / We are without any pain, and we have hardly forgotten / to talk on the far unknown region”. I quote Hölderlin again. This performance is from a register about the fact that how we must and can talk about ‘56 and about the time after it (if I understand it right it is about the era up until the end of the 60s). Do we need an Italian director to get the courage to be able to talk about ourselves?
There are things that I did not understand (it is not to measure me, but I did not care about this misunderstanding a lot: if I did not, than I could not!). And there was Alexander Balanescu! Do we need more? (We need! As he was playing alive with his orchestra only in the second part of the performance, but why? Who can tell a rational reason for it, as earlier we could hear his music in the can.)
"The order of fate is about the fact to be able to understand each other/and if Silence comes, then we need a Language for it too, a common one.” I can feel Hölderlin’s idea valid there in connection with the performance. After the great fall of the wooden floor (the end of the first half of the performance is marked wonderfully by the deafening sound of an almost two hundred kilos part of a wooden floor as it fell onto the stage from above), as Balanescu was walking to his seat the troupe (men-women) shiningly in their ballet skirts, without any words, could communicate perfectly with their audience. If there had been the Silence, as Balanescu played music, but the performance became more talkative without any words. And that graceful, giant black veil, as it slowly covered the auditorium!
The performance left some space and sense of lack after it. It is not wrong, but I was spoiled during the POSZT, we cannot get every day the whole theatrical experience (catharsis, orgasm and so on).
After many quotes from Hölderlin a real performance by Hölderlin was coming:
Friedrich Hölderlin: Empedocles
Bárka Theatre – Maladype; Director: Zoltán Balázs
„It is a captivating, unique and tough performance. We can see these kind of performances only abroad. I know about Zoltán Balázs, that he studied form Robert Wilson. Dedicated, young actors can certify that idea, which Zoltán Balázs has found out. That system of symbols, which he has built up, he has used precisely. First time during his work we can find incredible humour in his performance. Empedocles’ road goes from one end of the table to the other, but everything can happen during this road. The end of the performance is incredibly special. I have chosen Empedocles with great respect, love and pleasure. / András Márton /
"He is talking without asking, he finds his problems in his thoughts.” - quotes comes into my mind, and I do not need to search for it. “My heart is sitting on the branch of nothing, its little body is silently shaking”. This performance comes from this era.
In Empedocles we can follow the man’s steps towards the saint place. The wondering of Empedocles, the soul of backward, the deepness of the vison of world, as through all danger he can get up until himself – until the god-like nature of human life – and the performance is creating the meaning of the formed language during this time. This performance belongs to form. This ruled formed poetic language is the theatre itself. Zoltán Balázs after the experiences static nature of Theomachia can form a complex world with rich theatrical system of signs, where the constant pace of the setting and the wonderful simplicity of marching serve the freedom of human life and thoughts as a “food”.
Artúr Kálid’s (Empedocles) shining power even in his silence and Nóra Parti (Panthea) talkative mysterious beauty, and her unique voice... I can write similar adjectives about all characters. About humour too which is very useful for Hölderlin’s play. Meanwhile something has happened during the performance, for which neither the director nor the actors cannot be ready. There was a short cut. Only the emergency lighting remained. During this incredibly nice and sensitive performance the pure lighting of work made the actors suffer. It is similar to the situation when they throw a rock into the lake, the surface is waving, the characters are shaded. In that way with this strange and extraordinary effect the table is set, and humanity is served too.
After the performance there were strange lights on the street, the working on the solution of the disorder was still going on. I was walking towards the Horvát Theatre. To the concert of the Muzsikás band and Alexander Balanescu. The small outside stage is crowded, I did not want to push, so I was sitting on a bench, I was watching the sweet cherry tree, the fruits in the untouchable highness, there was a nut tree too, under a lamp, it was shining with wonderful, vivid green colour. I could see the reflectors of the stage from the bench too, butterflies were flying into the light, they were shining too. They were shiny butterflies. Meanwhile people were wondering from the concert, they came out to call someone, so slowly I could stand there to be able to watch. They just started the duos by Bartók, it sounds well from CD too, but it is something different alive. As I could see the crowd, I noticed their moving. As later the bass started playing (what else could it do?), even more. Could we dance sitting? Or we could wave a little?
I have seen and heard Balanescu playing music twice during two days. (I could fall asleep satisfied, I did not care about the cars that crashed into one another according to Viktor Bodó’s direction two kilometres away in a straight line, or anything else... We could not have everything at once!)
Róbert Balogh, terasz.hu, 2006
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)
"During poor time why do we need poets?" Hölderlin asked it. The question of form and time, of the aesthetic value, of the vison of world and its value of truth. Are there these kinds of values anymore? Can we reflect on these classical works with that effect and power after the common horizon of analyses, which has disappeared? (Of course, we can, and have to if we have an inner desire to face up with these shiny desires with dark power, with visions which is partly connected to theatre. We do not care about the common horizon of analyses but I am not a Gadamer...)
Paolo Magnelli - Alexander Balanescu - Željka Udovičič: Good bye Europe, Europe good bye! National Theatre of Miskolc; Director: Paolo Magnelli
"This is the only play of ‘56. This text is written based on improvisations, according to memories from school. Balanescu’s music has an incredibly interesting relationship with the performance. The verbal and motion theatre parts have sad effects, that kind which we all could feel, who lived then. This is a very serious performance. I love it very much." /András Márton /
The performance from Miskolc is connected to the troupe. The picture of stage makes me remember The Dead Class, that product was not that memorable anyway, but something really moved on the stage, when the experience of creators seemed to be reliable on the side of acceptance too. This is a special state of action, that some part of the audience knows the object of the performance, their own life and past only form the books while the others do it from their own life experiences – the acceptance of them is hardened a bit (what is that Riga? – someone asked me). The humour on stage was built on elements of motion and verbal theatre. (The verbal part gets two on a scale of five, but not everybody can be born to be writer!) The one thing why we can like the performance, Good bye Europe, Europe good bye! is its manageable size. “We are just signs, and there is nothing behind us / We are without any pain, and we have hardly forgotten / to talk on the far unknown region”. I quote Hölderlin again. This performance is from a register about the fact that how we must and can talk about ‘56 and about the time after it (if I understand it right it is about the era up until the end of the 60s). Do we need an Italian director to get the courage to be able to talk about ourselves?
There are things that I did not understand (it is not to measure me, but I did not care about this misunderstanding a lot: if I did not, than I could not!). And there was Alexander Balanescu! Do we need more? (We need! As he was playing alive with his orchestra only in the second part of the performance, but why? Who can tell a rational reason for it, as earlier we could hear his music in the can.)
"The order of fate is about the fact to be able to understand each other/and if Silence comes, then we need a Language for it too, a common one.” I can feel Hölderlin’s idea valid there in connection with the performance. After the great fall of the wooden floor (the end of the first half of the performance is marked wonderfully by the deafening sound of an almost two hundred kilos part of a wooden floor as it fell onto the stage from above), as Balanescu was walking to his seat the troupe (men-women) shiningly in their ballet skirts, without any words, could communicate perfectly with their audience. If there had been the Silence, as Balanescu played music, but the performance became more talkative without any words. And that graceful, giant black veil, as it slowly covered the auditorium!
The performance left some space and sense of lack after it. It is not wrong, but I was spoiled during the POSZT, we cannot get every day the whole theatrical experience (catharsis, orgasm and so on).
After many quotes from Hölderlin a real performance by Hölderlin was coming:
Friedrich Hölderlin: Empedocles
Bárka Theatre – Maladype; Director: Zoltán Balázs
„It is a captivating, unique and tough performance. We can see these kind of performances only abroad. I know about Zoltán Balázs, that he studied form Robert Wilson. Dedicated, young actors can certify that idea, which Zoltán Balázs has found out. That system of symbols, which he has built up, he has used precisely. First time during his work we can find incredible humour in his performance. Empedocles’ road goes from one end of the table to the other, but everything can happen during this road. The end of the performance is incredibly special. I have chosen Empedocles with great respect, love and pleasure. / András Márton /
"He is talking without asking, he finds his problems in his thoughts.” - quotes comes into my mind, and I do not need to search for it. “My heart is sitting on the branch of nothing, its little body is silently shaking”. This performance comes from this era.
In Empedocles we can follow the man’s steps towards the saint place. The wondering of Empedocles, the soul of backward, the deepness of the vison of world, as through all danger he can get up until himself – until the god-like nature of human life – and the performance is creating the meaning of the formed language during this time. This performance belongs to form. This ruled formed poetic language is the theatre itself. Zoltán Balázs after the experiences static nature of Theomachia can form a complex world with rich theatrical system of signs, where the constant pace of the setting and the wonderful simplicity of marching serve the freedom of human life and thoughts as a “food”.
Artúr Kálid’s (Empedocles) shining power even in his silence and Nóra Parti (Panthea) talkative mysterious beauty, and her unique voice... I can write similar adjectives about all characters. About humour too which is very useful for Hölderlin’s play. Meanwhile something has happened during the performance, for which neither the director nor the actors cannot be ready. There was a short cut. Only the emergency lighting remained. During this incredibly nice and sensitive performance the pure lighting of work made the actors suffer. It is similar to the situation when they throw a rock into the lake, the surface is waving, the characters are shaded. In that way with this strange and extraordinary effect the table is set, and humanity is served too.
After the performance there were strange lights on the street, the working on the solution of the disorder was still going on. I was walking towards the Horvát Theatre. To the concert of the Muzsikás band and Alexander Balanescu. The small outside stage is crowded, I did not want to push, so I was sitting on a bench, I was watching the sweet cherry tree, the fruits in the untouchable highness, there was a nut tree too, under a lamp, it was shining with wonderful, vivid green colour. I could see the reflectors of the stage from the bench too, butterflies were flying into the light, they were shining too. They were shiny butterflies. Meanwhile people were wondering from the concert, they came out to call someone, so slowly I could stand there to be able to watch. They just started the duos by Bartók, it sounds well from CD too, but it is something different alive. As I could see the crowd, I noticed their moving. As later the bass started playing (what else could it do?), even more. Could we dance sitting? Or we could wave a little?
I have seen and heard Balanescu playing music twice during two days. (I could fall asleep satisfied, I did not care about the cars that crashed into one another according to Viktor Bodó’s direction two kilometres away in a straight line, or anything else... We could not have everything at once!)
Róbert Balogh, terasz.hu, 2006
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)