Tímea Farkas: Water, earth, fire, air
Zoltán Balázs’s play, titled: This Ancient Anxiety, which was written after the schizophrenic Portuguese poet’s, Fernando Pessoa’s works, was shown in the studio of Merlin Theatre, yesterday evening.
What would have been, if...? – we ask this useless question many times from ourselves, because we feel, if we can turn back time till the questioned moment, we could have decided differently too. Zoltán Balázs through Fernando Pessoa’s quasi-personality gives words to the diversity and eventuality of decisions and thoughts of our identity and different roots with pirrandelic logic and consistency. The most dominated element of the poet’s identity – maybe of all of us – the Fire (István Kelemen) as the right of final wish asks for shelter in the silence of the family house. Before his death he would like to live once again the life which he has always questioned to himself, brought inside thanks for his three other personalities, the Air (Angéla Császár), the Water (Tamás Presists)and the Earth (Eszter Vörös), but he has never lived it through. As the Fire is returning back to his roots, to the Foremother (Katalin Hegedűs Gönczy) meeting the other three identities of his consciousness to form a unit with them and defeat the impossible, the passing away.
All the dreamt and half-dreamt moments of Pessoa’s past before the Fire run down on the stage to prove that the identities living inside him form a perfect unit, as for example the four seasons. The subconscious instincts with different will and strength become a conscious thought in that way to rule the people’s ancient, innate anguish.
Passions, repressed desires, angers, temperance appear on stage; the common sense and feelings fight with each other, while the performance hits us right on the head; we can decide anyway, passion or common sense can rule inside us, we cannot run away of death. The whole is just a symbol. A mirror, “the creator of which poisoned the human soul”- as the play sums it up.
Zoltán Balázs’s energetic, fresh play and direction too combines entertainingly the languages of fine art, music and dance. Judit Gombár’s set and costumes, András Szőllősi’s choreography, music by Chopin, Piazzola, Kabalevszky and Amadinda with Katalin Hegedűs Gönczy’s interpretation form organic unit, as the four elements do it, they serve the play as the performance serves Pessoa – the Fire’s unable but fulfilled desire.
Tímea Farkas, Napi Magyarország, 1999
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)
What would have been, if...? – we ask this useless question many times from ourselves, because we feel, if we can turn back time till the questioned moment, we could have decided differently too. Zoltán Balázs through Fernando Pessoa’s quasi-personality gives words to the diversity and eventuality of decisions and thoughts of our identity and different roots with pirrandelic logic and consistency. The most dominated element of the poet’s identity – maybe of all of us – the Fire (István Kelemen) as the right of final wish asks for shelter in the silence of the family house. Before his death he would like to live once again the life which he has always questioned to himself, brought inside thanks for his three other personalities, the Air (Angéla Császár), the Water (Tamás Presists)and the Earth (Eszter Vörös), but he has never lived it through. As the Fire is returning back to his roots, to the Foremother (Katalin Hegedűs Gönczy) meeting the other three identities of his consciousness to form a unit with them and defeat the impossible, the passing away.
All the dreamt and half-dreamt moments of Pessoa’s past before the Fire run down on the stage to prove that the identities living inside him form a perfect unit, as for example the four seasons. The subconscious instincts with different will and strength become a conscious thought in that way to rule the people’s ancient, innate anguish.
Passions, repressed desires, angers, temperance appear on stage; the common sense and feelings fight with each other, while the performance hits us right on the head; we can decide anyway, passion or common sense can rule inside us, we cannot run away of death. The whole is just a symbol. A mirror, “the creator of which poisoned the human soul”- as the play sums it up.
Zoltán Balázs’s energetic, fresh play and direction too combines entertainingly the languages of fine art, music and dance. Judit Gombár’s set and costumes, András Szőllősi’s choreography, music by Chopin, Piazzola, Kabalevszky and Amadinda with Katalin Hegedűs Gönczy’s interpretation form organic unit, as the four elements do it, they serve the play as the performance serves Pessoa – the Fire’s unable but fulfilled desire.
Tímea Farkas, Napi Magyarország, 1999
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)