"It's very interesting to search and explore with crazy, adventurous people. As long as I have that opportunity, I will be able to endure everything."

Maladype, one of the defining companies of contemporary, experimental theatre, is celebrating its 15th anniversary this season. We spoke with the company's equally defining and exploratory leader, Zoltán Balázs.

Your website states that Maladype is "a company that has been able to constantly reinvent itself over the years." You have already undergone several transformations. Where is the company headed now?

We are now halfway through our fifteenth year. We have two seven-year periods behind us, and they were completely different from each other. Both periods had their defining performances, including Theomachia, The Blacks, and Leonce and Lena in 2008. The actors rehearsed each of the twenty-five scenes of Büchner's play in four different variations, resulting in a total of one hundred versions available to the audience—and, of course, to ourselves. Due to the structure of the play, we never performed the same show twice. This process of deconstruction later formed the basis for King Ubu and then Egg(s)hell.

After our time in Bárka Theatre, we found our current venue, a bourgeois apartment on Mikszáth Square, where we can work at our own pace and according to our own expectations. The characteristics of the Maladype Base's spaces also determine the performances we play here. It was in the context of our performance of Don Carlos that I came up with what is perhaps the most characteristic description of the performances created at the Base: "minimalist monumentalism." We staged large-scale pieces, but due to the minimalist nature of the tools used, acting, creativity, and improvisation also played a major role. We fly out into the world from the Maladype Base, and we return here. In addition to the rehearsals, performances, and multidisciplinary programs that take place here, more substantial projects and performances will once again take centre stage in the life of our theatre.

To mark the centenary of Dadaism, at the end of the summer we will present Matei Visniec's play Dada Cabaret in co-production with Gábor Gábriel Farkas and his band, which the author wrote for the centenary of the birth of the artistic movement. We bring together the world of cabaret and protest songs in an internationally co-produced, musically, visually, and verbally exciting, artistically coherent production. The use of language, playfulness, and the strange interplay of verbal and non-verbal signs all form the essence of Dadaism.

After my guest production in Chicago, Sándor Zsótér will begin rehearsals for Shakespeare's Richard III at the Bázis at the end of March, and a production by András Jeles is also under discussion. Both directors are close to the spirit of Maladype, because they are searching, researching, obsessive directors who are not afraid of redesign. Experimentation and delving deep into things are part of our theatre, and this continues to define us.

It seems like a new, distinct artistic direction is not to be expected at the moment.

We are continuing on our own path. Over the years, through our open and introductory rehearsals, we have opened up a multigenerational channel that can only be created through continuous dialogue, so that the audience is not only affected by intuitive experiences (based on whether they like something or not), but dares to think aloud, form opinions, and debate about what they have seen and heard.

Do your theatre-in-education programs work the same way as before?

The open rehearsals are still running, as are the various introductory programs, such as the Chamber Concerts and Numera! Our latest and most current project is The Kravchenko Case, a complex, anti-communist, multi-phase book publishing/theatre/education project that is primarily related to the themes of freedom and democratic values. Free from the usual "tribal wars," it integrates many sides with different identities and value systems in the spirit of professionalism. In the year-long theatre-in-education program, we meet nearly 400 disadvantaged and exceptionally talented students and their teachers, mostly from underdeveloped regions, from Pécs to Alsózsolca. The team is completed by sociologists, social psychologists, literary and art historians, historians, lawyers, and other legal experts. The program builds on the importance of personal and collective responsibility, so that young people can be aware of their own future and their legal responsibilities and make responsible decisions.

Speaking of changes, several actors have recently left and new ones have joined the company.

This season, Kata Huszárik and Zsigmond Bödők joined the company. I had worked with Kata before, and now we felt it was worth strengthening our collaboration. Zsigmond recently graduated from the University of Performing Arts in Marosvásárhely, so I am at the start line with him. He is an extremely talented and motivated young man. In addition to them, Erika Tankó, Ágota Szilágyi, and Zsolt Páll make up our permanent cast. It is also an organic part of our development that people change and spend different periods of time at Maladype. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to have more than five actors financially. We work on a small budget and always have to rethink our financial strategy.

At this year's Night of Theatres, you auctioned off the sets and props from your previous performances.

Yes, it felt really good.

Was it a kind of closure with the past?

Definitely, beyond the fact that it made financial sense. The idea was born out of necessity, as we received less public funding than in the previous application period. We started thinking about how we could obtain the missing amount so that we could sign our permanent actors for at least one season and ensure the daily operation of the theatre. Therefore, we decided to auction off the sets and props of nearly thirteen of our productions, which had been in our repertoire for several years and had been performed over a hundred times at home and abroad. The auction was a financial success, but perhaps more importantly, it allowed me to let go of something I no longer wanted to carry. This way, I can focus on our new productions and the new company members. Of course, I would be happier if I could plan with greater financial stability.

What do you think can be done about the situation?

Work. There is no other option, we have to work.

What opportunities do you see for asserting your interests in the current climate of cultural policy?

There comes a point when you can no longer remain silent about what is happening. Especially if you are a leader and responsible for people's lives. You also have to respect the audience, who have grown to love and expect the quality offered by Maladype over the years. You need sensible, predictable, plannable working conditions. And, of course, a good sense of humour, good company and integrity. These are the three motivators for the coming period.

Tell me about your relationship with Maladype! Can you specify what you want to achieve with Maladype, and how long you think you can keep doing it?

As long as I find joy in this relationship, for sure. As long as I can provide the necessary coverage for basic operations not only intellectually, artistically, and conceptually, but also financially, that is: as long as it is sustainable.

If the situation was better, how would your work be different?

For example, we would not set the financial framework for performances in the spirit of reduction, but according to unlimited imagination, creativity, and bold artistic concepts.

Is this how things work abroad as well?

In the places that I have worked, if they promised me something, I got it on time, so that the rehearsal process was all about the creation. Of course, I don't want to generalize that everything is rosy and beautiful abroad, but since I live in Hungary, I would basically focus on that. Over time, every decision-maker will realize that independence is not a bad thing, but a motivating and fertile opportunity in the long run. Not only in theatre, not only in art, but also in everyday life. I believe in the human spirit, that not everyone gives up and not everyone's brain cells wear out. Of course, I am neither a missionary, nor an educator, nor a prophet. I don't want to formulate general visions or change Hungarian public opinion, but I would like to believe that people can be made receptive. I don't have a recipe, just as I didn't have one for Maladype and life, and probably never will. But it's very interesting to search and explore with crazy, adventurous people - my playmates. As long as I have that opportunity, I will be able to endure everything.

Zsuzsa Szabó, 7óra7, 2016

Translated by Lena Megyeri