I love the puppet theatre, and when Kata said in early April that she knows one of the players in a production at the Budapest Puppet Theatre just down the street, we had to go. While Kapós Böske was advertised as a puppet show, significant parts were performed by the actors and musicians without puppets. This very racy production borrowed from a number of Hungarian folk traditions and tales, but concentrated on a tale of love through a baptism of fire, and through all the stages of human life. And as anyone knows  by listening to any folk song, whether it be about a cuckoo's nest or the harvest, it is all about sex. To this end, the 20 minute introduction alone was worth the price of the ticket. The entire audience was pissing itself laughing. Even though the "countryside accent" was at times very difficult for me to understand, the spark between the two and the gift they had for connecting with the audience shined through.

As I have stated before, one of the things I like best about the puppet theatre is the design of the set, which usually entails a "wonder box" that with a few flips and twists transforms into any number of sets for any required scene. The same held true for Kapos Boske. The box was at once a massive bed, a church, a house...

The production was a two-person show with Mariann Fabok doing all of the puppeteering, while Arpad Nagy Keresztes provided the wonderful lute/cobza (koboz) music and songs, and split the narration duties. Both are very talented actors and singers.

April 3rd was the premier of this piece, and I know it was also performed in Miskolc. If you have a chance to catch it, you will not only leave the theatre with a big smile on your face, you might also have learned something about the three pillars (legs of a stool in this case) of lasting relationships.

The next performance will be June 8th in Pécs.