Zoltán Balázs is an actor, director and company leader, but above all a creative partner who thinks about theatre, life and challenges on a broad scale. Founder and director of the Maladype Theatre, he is independent, free-spirited, theatre-centred and adventurous. From puppetry to opera, dance theatre to musicals, classical drama to experimental productions, he has directed almost everything. Elusive, impossible to pigeonhole, he is always coming up with something new. One thing, however, remains unchanged: the spirit, philosophy and concept of Maladype. As an independent artist, he has directed a succession of productions that have resonated internationally, from Bucharest to Chicago. With his company, he has travelled half the world, and last year Maladype received awards at three African festivals. This year he is directing in Jerusalem, Nitra, Zagreb and Sarajevo. And as if all that were not enough, Andrea Rost named Zoltán Balázs as chief director and artistic director in her application for the position of general director of the Hungarian State Opera.

– Alongside running the internationally touring Maladype Theatre, regularly directing guest productions abroad and going on tour, how would you fit in the artistic direction of such a mammoth institution as the Hungarian State Opera?

– A lot can fit into my life when change is at stake. Andrea Rost’s confidence in me is a great honour and a source of inspiration. The position of chief director she has in mind for me would represent a significant step forward not only in terms of my artistic ambitions but also with regard to my innovative interdisciplinary artistic plans. The multifaceted task of modernizing opera is particularly motivating. Beginning with Bárka, I have been invited several times during my career to lead artistic institutions or take up positions as chief director, but I have always felt that I can remain free if I have several possibilities to choose from. I did not want to commit myself to a company that I would simply inherit. That is why I chose instead to lead my own ensemble and embrace cosmopolitanism.

Now I feel that the time has come to focus my creative energies on Hungary, and to make the knowledge and experience I have acquired over the years systematically available to others. In Plato’s Apology of Socrates, society is compared to a sluggish horse that occasionally needs the sting of a gadfly to force it into motion. For the circulation of blood to begin flowing in twenty-first-century theatre and opera culture, and for vital, relevant responses to emerge, we need a precisely designed and effectively executed “gadfly attack.” Partly on the basis of this idea, Andrea Rost, Gábor Káli, whom we invited to serve as chief music director, and Zoltán Tamás Nagy, our candidate for ballet director, and I jointly formulated our innovative artistic vision, both in a Hungarian and an international context.

The most important task of our concept, which seeks to rewire the nervous system of the theatre and opera of the future, is to create a creative space for a return to “the essence of theatre” and to free our stage culture from the misguided reflexes and blocked creative processes that have embedded traditionalism into the system over the past decades. Real change is not easy to bring about, but it is essential—for the sake of both artists and audiences.

– What is your relationship with opera as a genre?

– For me, opera represents the most complete synthesis of the arts and embodies the idea that art is merely an abstraction of imagined nature. This artistic outlook has shaped my thinking from the very beginning, which is why my productions are also referred to as interdisciplinary or total-art events.

In Hungary, there is a false perception of me according to which I have shut myself away inside Maladype and do not accept guest-directing assignments at other theatres. My productions in Hungary and abroad repeatedly disprove this misconception, but the emblematic performances presented at our apartment theatre on Mikszáth Kálmán Square—which fell victim to water damage a few years ago—left such deep and exclusive impressions on both general and professional audiences that they strongly reinforced this assumption.

Maintaining the Maladype Base was a necessity for our company, since for a long time we had to struggle to establish ourselves in Hungary without a permanent venue. In the apartment theatre, which could accommodate only a small audience, we sought to achieve maximum impact with minimalist means. From there we flew off to different parts of the world to perform as guests, and I too returned there after my international directing engagements, so that with one premiere per season we could continue to make our voice heard in Hungary.

– Maladype’s international career receives very little attention at home. To what extent is this due to the indifference of the Hungarian cultural milieu, and to what extent to the fact that the company promotes itself rather modestly?

– This is a multifaceted problem. Although the news is not full of reports about us touring Africa or Asia, everyone in professional circles knows exactly that our company travels frequently and extensively. But one cannot expect members of our theatre community—who are more preoccupied with their own daily struggle for survival—to speak up when the news media remain silent about our international successes.

While most Hungarian creative workshops do not even make it as far as the neighbouring city, the Maladype company, also performing a kind of cultural-diplomatic role, has travelled to more than forty countries on four continents over the past twenty-one years. Our theatre is a cultural export product. We live in a world where professional recognition and achievements have no real news value or impact. Our situation is made even more difficult by the fact that our productions are not accompanied by scandals and the members of our ensemble are not activist artists. We are interested in the exploratory, investigative creative processes of theatre-making and in artistic development.

– Perhaps you do not position yourselves strongly enough in the digital world, in the online space...

– We are not intrusive, and our technical possibilities are also limited. We instinctively keep our distance from certain fashionable forms of behaviour. We are repelled by arrogant and aggressive opinion leaders and by people who lack knowledge and facts and spread fake news. I am sure that if I regularly expressed opinions on political and social issues, our other activities would also receive greater publicity. But unfortunately, I was brought up in a theatre culture based on values and knowledge.

– Would a conscious marketing strategy be incompatible with artistic values?

– Not at all. It is simply a question of money. And we are not in a position to afford that luxury.

– Have you considered crowdfunding?

– I do not believe in sustainable community funding. We were among the first to try this form of financing, but for our operations it amounted only to local anaesthesia. Through our support programme called “A Hundred People, a Hundred for One,” we did manage to raise some money, but neither companies nor audiences were able to make a meaningful contribution to solving our long-term operational problems. In the long term, we can build on our professional expertise, international reputation and network. The main pillars of our survival strategy are the numerous invitations to international festivals and our tours.

– Independent theatres and companies are slowly disappearing or being forced to shut down because of a lack of funding...

– Yes, but the self-appointed messiahs of the sector have contributed considerably to this process as well. The anointed “most independent” players have gradually eliminated the “merely independent” ones.

This year we did not even submit an application for the NKA [National Cultural Fund of Hungary] operating grant, because we have not received a single penny from its board for three years. The reason is that we do not belong to the closed circle of FESZ, the Association of Independent Performing Arts, nor do we maintain private or vested-interest relationships with the members of the board, most of whom are delegated by that organization.

If you do not join one of the factions, if you do not align yourself with the individuals and principles they designate, they take petty revenge. In a caring, values-based cultural environment, the necessary selection processes would have taken place long ago, with the result that everyone could receive operating support distributed from taxpayers’ money according to their achievements and merits.

In a rationally functioning funding system, it should be inconceivable that the NKA’s board, organized along lines of personal alliances, would award zero forints in operating support to a company with twenty-one years of history and international recognition. The distribution of funding should be justified by decision-making processes that consciously and thoughtfully recognize unquestionable artistic achievements as well as professional and structural viability.

– What does someone from the for-profit sector receive in return for deciding to support Maladype?

– A brand. Exclusivity, internationalism, uniqueness. Maladype is a hallmark of quality, professional expertise, consistency and artistic renewal. One of the most versatile and original theatre workshops in Hungarian theatre has an extensive international network and can make its broad network of contacts available to its partners in a variety of ways.

Last year, for example, under the auspices of the company, we organized the Isra-Drama Festival at Eötvös10, presenting works by contemporary Israeli playwrights in cooperation with the Terézváros district municipality. Our guests included the district mayor, the Israeli ambassador and numerous international invitees. The multi-day event featured performances, professional conferences and discussions where participants could build connections with one another.

This was not the first time our involvement had contributed to stimulating the cultural, economic and tourism life of a particular area. Naturally, a sustained partnership could provide further mutual benefits both to our company and to those who join forces with us.

– Your latest production, Someone Like Me by Israeli playwright Roy Chen, is about young people struggling with mental disorders and is told through the language of movement theatre. What inspired it?

– Until now, our repertoire had lacked documentary-style explorations of particular subjects, so we found it exciting to present a contemporary play that addresses psychiatric disorders—issues still treated as taboo today—in the form of an honest confession.

The central premise of Someone Like Me bears many similarities to the central question of Ionesco’s Rhinoceros: Who is considered normal? Who is watching whom: the visitor the inmate, or the other way around? At the audience discussions following the performances, we explore the psychological, sociological and anthropological dimensions of the subject with the help of respected specialists.

– You recruited the current team largely from an acting class that graduated in Târgu Mureș, most of them in their twenties. How much has the Maladype brand changed as the company has been renewed several times?

– Our trademark remains unchanged because it represents continuous renewal. The different creative periods of Maladype are shaped and defined by different creative partners. At present, the theatre’s permanent company consists of its fifth-generation team.

Five years ago, I directed a non-verbal production for them as their graduation performance, August, inspired by the short stories of Bruno Schulz. It immediately received numerous festival invitations. In Prague, theatre scholar Patrice Pavis saw the production and emphatically told me that I had to keep the group together.

Thanks to the dedication of my colleagues, we managed to raise the initial capital within six months and were able to sign the entire class. The productions that subsequently came into being under the Maladype banner also became festival successes, allowing the current generation to demonstrate its talent and knowledge in many places, from Algeria to Vietnam.

For the time being, the members are primarily focused on professional development and gaining theatrical experience, but before long, starting a family, improving their financial situation and establishing themselves individually will become priorities in their lives.

– They are also participating in the Theatre Olympics, with invited productions...

– Two productions are coming to Budapest under the auspices of Maladype. A performance by the Israeli Frechot Ensemble, which tells the moving stories of three mothers who were forced to give up their children in the Palestinian-Jewish conflict, will be presented at the Bethlen Téri Theatre.

A production by Bucharest’s Odeon Theatre, portraying the stories of four strong women across generations, will be presented at the Pesti Theatre. Both productions explore the complex interrelationships of women’s destinies, generational labyrinths and social problems through the performances of actresses who remain true to themselves.

– You received a special invitation to Sarajevo: to mark the thirtieth anniversary of Susan Sontag’s iconic production of Waiting for Godot, in the besieged city. What exactly is this project about?

– The MESS International Theatre Festival has wanted to collaborate with me in some form for a long time. The opportunity has now arisen in connection with the ninetieth anniversary of Susan Sontag’s birth, the thirtieth anniversary of her death, and the thirtieth anniversary of her iconic wartime production.

I am preparing to stage Sontag’s Alice in bed with the company of SARTR, the Sarajevo War Theatre. The play is a remarkable pamphlet, a profound social critique of the world we live in.

The co-production is intended by the organizers to be one of the highlights of the festival, and after its Sarajevo premiere it will embark on an international tour. The extraordinary attention surrounding the project has already resulted in numerous festival invitations and guest-performance opportunities, including an invitation to La MaMa Theatre in New York, where Alice was first performed forty years ago.

– What would you bring into Hungarian theatre from your experiences abroad?

– The joy of reinventing oneself. The liberating and inspiring experience of cultural universality, which boldly breaks with realism, convention and academicism.

I consider it important that artists create more internally driven works formulated according to their own standards. It is time for us to relearn the arts and make room for creative zones that have not yet been contaminated.

We need a kind of new artistic authenticity. It is frightening that the majority of theatre-makers do not even know the basic concepts of theatre and know nothing about the work of an actor or director. Today it is almost impossible to refer to professional theatrical fundamentals, pioneering artists or styles; most of our peers are incapable of thinking in terms of connections and contexts.

Every encounter requires us to construct a new vocabulary, which makes deeper engagement difficult. What we desperately need in Hungary is a generous, attentive and integrative approach arising from confidence in professional knowledge—one that conveys the following to everyone:

It is perfectly fine if we disagree, but—in professional terms—we must assume the best of one another!

Rita Szentgyörgyi, Art in Business, 2023

translated by Zsuzsanna Juraszek