Urbi et Orbi
Two Hungarian friends invited me to the theater (Siraly) last night, but I had no idea what we were going to see. When I saw the title, I was immediately reminded of the Hungarian name for Obie in Garfield. Then when I found it was the same troupe from Vojvodina that we saw in the Brecht play a couple weeks ago, I entered with some trepidation. My fears were totally unwarranted, and it was an excellent production. Loosely based on stories by 20th century Hungarian poet Janos Pilinszky, the play centers on four characters going through psychotherapy by committee. All four patients and there interlocutors start off hysterically funny, especially the first character Moni, played by Marta Beres. But they were all very good. All four scenes then turn serious, and at times there is a lot of screaming that was unintelligable even to my Hungarian friends, and which we all thought was unnecessary to the production. None of us were sure about Andrea Erdely, who plays Zsuzsi. having seen her in the last production, and 3/4 of this one, we were not sure she could do more than scream. But lo and behold, the woman can act too, as you will see in the last scene. The cast is rounded out by Arpad Meszaros and Elek Imre Mikes, who were also very good. It appears this was the only performance at the Siraly, but look out for the Kosztolányi Dezső Színház Urbán András Társulat next time they are in town.