In 2008 I disbanded the permanent company of Krétakör Theatre because I wanted Krétakör to become an organization that would represent educational, social and political issues, seek solutions to problems, make professional proposals and so on with the use of artistic tools and forms. I came to that decision because I discovered ever widening social gaps in Hungary. Just to mention some of them: there is a divide between the urban and the rural, the wealthy and the poor, the politically powerful and the vulnerable, the informed and the uninformed. On 15 March 2011, during the celebration of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Viktor Orbán gave a speech on the stairs of the National Museum, saying that Hungary would never again become a colony, that Brussels was the new Moscow, but that we would not be duped. On the same day, just a few blocks away on Szabadsajtó Street, I, too, gave a speech before 30,000 people, talking about the recognition of minority rights and the consequences of the abuse of power. I pleaded for tolerance and cooperation from the government.

Between 2008 and 2016 Krétakör Foundation carried out several major projects: drama pedagogy sessions, forum theatre events, professional conferences, student camps. It also organized advocacy, organizational development and think tank activities as well as demonstrations, and guerilla and online campaigns, and it stood up for the rights of homeless people, refugees, immigrants, homosexuals, students, women, NGOs and the Roma.

In 2014 the state subsidies that had been granted to Krétakör Foundation through a grant application procedure were reduced without proper justification – and despite the positive decision of the grant committee – by the theatre committee operating by the Minister for Culture. Krétakör Foundation then publicly refused to apply for support in such murky tendering circumstances. Since then we have not accepted any state support, nor have we participated in grant applications.

In 2015, due to a demonstration organized by the Foundation in protest against the sale of the most popular independent Hungarian Internet portal to government-friendly hands, the Government Control Office and the National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary launched extraordinary investigations regarding Krétakör’s activity, which lasted for two whole years (2015–2016), and which, in the end, did not find any irregularities. Recently, the work of the Foundation has been subject to constant atrocities, and we keep finding David stars drawn on our office bells and mailboxes.

The Foundation received the Princess Margriet Award for Culture from ECF in March 2016. Member of the jury of the Award, among others, was the former director of Tate London, Chris Dercon, and the Award was presented to Krétakör by Princess Margriet herself. I could not personally attend the award ceremony because I was organizing a demonstration for 15 March, attended by 30,000 people, which sought to prevent the transformation of the Hungarian education system.

Until January 2017, I was an activist of “Tanítanék Mozgalom” (‘I Would Teach’ Movement). On 4 April 2017, I published a home-made video about the government-initiated fearmongering and manipulative national consultation that reached 1.5 million downloads and earned 15,000 likes on my social network page. In 2017 I gave a speech at Budapest Pride Festival and at a demonstration called “For a Humane Hungary”. I launched the Szabadszavazas.hu website (a free online voting system) and delivered a speech in Röszke, at the Serbian border against the inhumane treatment of refugees. In September 2017, the Vice-President of Fidesz and President of the National Security Committee publicly identified me and two other activists, Márton Gulyás and Gábor Vágó as a threat to national security at a press conference. As a result of that, the government-based media accused me of promoting violence among students.

My situation is uncertain. After these events I do not know for sure how far-reaching the consequences of a government press statement can be. Should I expect surveillance, interception or any kind of atrocity from the activists of the ruling party? My situation is not stable, but I have no reason to fear because my conscience is clear.

In the same period, between 2008 and 2017, I worked with the following theatres as a guest director: Théâtre National de Chaillot Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper München, Burgtheater Wien, Theater Basel, Theater Klagenfurt, Lithuanian National Drama Theatre Vilnius, Royal Theatre Zetski Dom Cetinje, Teatr Powszechny Warsaw, Csiky Gergely Hungarian State Theatre of Timisoara. I have taught and/or offered courses in the following cities: École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Techniques du Théâtre (ENSATT) Lyon, Haute école des arts de la scène (Manufacture) Lausanne, École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Strasbourg (ENSAS) Strasbourg, Centre National des Arts du Cirque Châlons-en-Champagne, Onassis Cultural Center Athens, Klaipeda Youth Theatre Klaipeda. 
Next premieres: Landestheater Niederösterreich Sankt Pölten, Vilnius Youth Theatre, Royal Theatre Zetski Dom Cetinje, Oper Stuttgart, Zagreb Youth Theatre.

Árpád Schilling

PRESS

• Regisseur Arpad Schilling in Ungarn als "Staatsfeind" verdächtig. Der Standard. 26. 09. 2017.