Young authors workshop in Budapest

“After the Fall” in Hungary Dramaturg Anna Lengyel took a unique approach to the topic of “After the Fall”. Together with the writer and dramatist László Márton, she organised a three-part workshop for young authors at the Budapest National Theatre. In the second round of the workshop, actors of the National Theatre were brought in to give a tangible illustration of the texts’ dramatic effect. The third part of the workshop led up to a staged reading on January 30th on the Gobbi Hilda Stage of the National Theatre, which featured excerpts of pieces by Bettina Almássy, Ferenc Csuszner, Alice Müller and Márk Péter Vargha. In interviews given after the performance, three of the authors talk about their pieces: Ferencz Csuszner wrote an authentic story about one person fleeing from Transylvania and the aftermath of that flight; Alice Müller created a scenario, as brutally grotesque as it is funny, which revolves around two women in London who are thwarted by a fence; Márk Péter Vargha came up with a story of a boy whose heart, despite being forcefully removed during the dictatorship, continues to grow back. Following the end of the dictatorship, however, this capability leads to mass production...

Anna Lengyel and László Márton discuss their experiences with the workshop, the authors’ very different approaches, the difficult relationship of Hungarian society to its past as well as the situation of contemporary theatre. Notable mention was given to Bettina Almássy’s piece about a competitive swimmer in the GDR who becomes a pawn of the people around her and loses herself in spite of her outward success.