“If life: always into the light. If death: bury me alive. ”

"At the College of Theater and Film Arts, we had to work on a couple of scenes from Brecht's work as a third-year directorial exam. The material excited the group so much that we decided to make the whole play. It was a brilliant task to work on this brilliant "something" that, according to the legend, Brecht wrote only on 4 days, on a bet. We feel that enthusiasm, conscientious work, collective reflections will bring us closer to the solution. We strive to form poetic signs by testing the human body itself, sometimes in forms that appear aggressive but can be interpreted accurately. It is rare for an exam to end in a performance on repertoire, but Gábor Zsámbéki thought it was a value worth keeping alive. The rest is up to us and the audience." (Árpád Schilling)

Written by Bertolt Brecht
Hungarian translation by Zoltán Jékely

CAST

Performed by Viktor Bodó, Réka Pelsőczy, Karina Kecskés, Eszter Ónodi, Eszter Balla, Kati Lázár, Erika Bodnár, Annamária Láng, Gábor Rusznyák, György Vass, Sándor Csányi, Gergely Kocsis, Attila Tóth, Zsolt Nagy

Directed by Árpád Schilling
Stage design by Árpád Schilling, András Bartos
Costume design by Klára Varga
Music by Gábor Rusznyák

Photo: Mátyás Erdély

PRESS

• Süddeutsche Zeitung
  “The Hungarian performance, simultaneously interpreted through headphones, was primarily promoted by Viktor Bodó, who played Baal, an animally egoist daredevil with an inimitable grin, the briskness of the beast and the irresistible charm; sexy, brutal and only just so dull as to be the superior one in the end; until the collapse, but then the optical stimuli had tired the audience so much as not to let them realise the fatal end.”
   
• Anna Grusková, SME
  "Foreigner guests as well as the elite of our own professionals regarded the Hungarian performance as this year’s top staging. The structure’s brilliant composition, deviating from the traditions, offered a unique approach with the main character’s (Viktor Bodó) ‘bare costume’ in a way that its function made it operable."
   
• Jeremy Kingston, The Times
  "The real experience for me was Árpád Schilling’s staging. This young director presented a new and amazing approach to the exhibitionism of art. Never before have I seen Baalt in such a detailed interpretation, which elevated the drama to a new dimension. My seminars on contemporary criticism will exclusively focus on this particular performance."
   
• Frédéric Ferney, Le Figaro
  "It is obvious that these young Hungarian people taught us a lot. Taught us about theatre, desire, wit, boldness. And passion. These are areas full of risk and danger. Compared to them the French theatre seems far too faint and conservative. (.) But whatever protest one has against the use of cruelty, the abuse and contempt of the body, one can only welcome the professional knowledge and maturity of these young actors. How can they deal with degradation and disgust? I don’t know. You have to see them. But what is primary and whose lack would make it unbearable is the priority of the form that creates the bond between us and the beauty. All the actors were amazingly dangerous, ambiguous, courageous, just as this laughing and ugly faun."
   
• Brigitte Salino: La liberté brutale du premier Brecht magnifiée en scène par Arpad Schilling. Le Monde, 18. 11. 2000.
  "Viktor Bodó plays this role with the vitality of a predator just like Dwid Bowie and Fassbinder did back in the day. Árpád Schilling’s power is in this, he joins the club of the devine rebels."
   
• István Sándor L.: Halálzóna – interjú Szász Jánossal és Schilling Árpáddal. Ellenfény, 10. 10. 1998. (interview)
   
• Maïa Bouteillet: Baal reprend du poil de la bête. Libération, 15. 11. 2000.
   
• Ghania Adamo: Nouvel astre de la scène, le Hongrois Arpad Schilling revigore le «Baal» de Bertolt Brecht. Le Temps, 17. 11. 2000.