Roma Heroes 2022
- Families and Fights -Performances 2022
Roma Heroes – V. International Roma Theater Festival
Independent Theater Hungary organises its fifth international theatre meeting. Year by year, various Roma theatre companies come to Budapest with performances that the Hungarian audience has not seen before. Their main goal is to share several stories about the many-sided Roma theatre full of values. This year’s five productions – including Czech, Irish, Slovak and two Hungarian – cover the theme of family heritage, and the contradictory experiences of the different generations. Linked to the topic, the festival motto is “Families and Fights”.
The festival focuses on the family. Instead of an idealised family of commercials smiling at us from nice picture frames, an emotional maze of flesh-and-blood relationships unfolds before us, which may be the scene of many miracles and struggles, but at least ours. The plays in the programme present a broad spectrum of this system of relationships, as the family often gives us strengths and protection against the outside world, other times, however, it can also limit our possibilities and cast a shadow over our entire lives.
Here are some of the ideas of the Roma creators raise this time: What is the story of colourful ceramic frogs in Portugal in front of shop entrances, and how do they relate to the Gypsy? What makes the life of the Irish Travellers special, and why does the majority society not stand by them even in times of tragedy? Why are (Roma) women more affected by world political change and discrimination than men? How can a Roma woman have a world-renowned career in the second half of the 18th century and hold a violin instead of a wooden spoon? How can we preserve our inner integrity and be able to cling to our loved ones when everything around us falls apart in war?
The festival programme, which combines different art forms – music, literature, performing arts – is for all those who go to the theater to get to know new worlds and question their own usual points of view. This year, the 15-year-old Independent Theater Hungary will guide us on this journey. On occasion of the anniversary, the company presents the cornerstone of Roma theater history: a digital collection of Roma theater and drama, which fills a huge gap in the history of theater. The presentation of the collection will take place on the opening day on May 5th.
Performances
"Frogtales"
Artists
Writer: Rodrigó Balogh and Márton Illés
Director: Rodrigó Balogh
Cast: István Babindák, Orsolya Balogh, Nóra Nemcsók, Norbert Oláh, Dávid Varga
Music: István Babindák, Máté A. Kovács
Translation (english) - Viktoria Kondi
Short description
The punk opera called Frogtales, sung with spicy humour, presents the lives of three generations of a family through a frog metaphor. In Portugal, the ceramic frogs on display indicate where the Roma are undesirable.
The ‘frog family’ in the play fights to break out of the ‘swamp’ assigned to them and wants to be accepted by the majority society. They fight and do a lot for social integration, they change from generation to generation, while the youngest member of the family succeeds, he becomes a star thanks to his musical studies. It is a question, though, how real the success is. The performance is in Hungarian, with English subtitles.
"Helver's night"
Artists
Writer – Ingmar Villqist
Director -Anton Korenčí
Cast – František Balog, Diana Semanová
Set design – Silvia Korenčiová
Translation (angol) – Lucia Faltinova
Translation (magyar) – Garajszki Margit
Short description
The Actor Theatre, Košice brings the play Helver’s Night by Helmar Villqist to our festival.
The performance presents Helver and Klara’s evening spent together in the Europe of the 1930s, while civil war is raging around them. Their controversially beautiful and mysterious relationship is the only handhold for both of them.
The woman takes care of the man with mental problems, and as the crowd gets turbulently instable out there, they are trapped in their kitchen that is only seemingly a safe haven. Gradually, we learn more about who they are and what really connects them. The performance will be in Slovak, with English and Hungarian subtitles
"Mama / Dajori"
Artists
Rendező – David Tišer
Előadja – Pavlína Matiová, Michal Žolták
Dramaturg – Líza Zima Urbanová
Zenekar – Roman Horváth, Milan Kroka, Tibor Žida
Fordítás (angol) – James Morgan
Fordítás (magyar) – Kolláth Anna
Short description
Through the fate of four generations, the performance Mama of the Czech ARA Art Company reveals to us how unfairly burdened the Roma women are by the adversities of history. Four stories, four eras, represented by different writers, based on personal interviews. In the first we get to know the contradictory but predictable everyday life of Czechoslovakia before World War II, then we get a glimpse into the communist era.
The third part, set in the ’70s, shows how Roma children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in state care. Finally, the closing story tells the trauma of women who were illegally sterilized in the ’80s and have been carrying this burden to this day.
With this play, the company is trying to draw attention to the importance of the issue and at the same time, help the victims to get the compensation they are legally entitled to from 2022 onwards. The performance is in Czech, with English and Hungarian subtitles.
"Ireland Shed a Tear?"
Artists
Writer: Michael Collins
Director: Anthony Fox
Cast– Michael Collins, Johnny Collins, Catherine Collins
Translation (hungarian) – Edina Szabados
Short description
The performance of the Traveller Wagon Wheel Company shows how the majority society, and the Irish state treats the travellers, through the story of an Irish fire in Ireland in 2015.
At the same time, the play commemorates the ten victims of the tragedy in Carrickmines: five children and five adults lost their lives at the site, including a pregnant mother. The tragedy would have been preventable. This raises severThe performance of the Traveller Wagon Wheel Company shows how the majority society, and the Irish state treats the travellers, through the story of an Irish fire in Ireland in 2015.
Al questions concerning the situation of the Travellers and the contradictory conduct of the State. Michael Collins, with his 16-year-old son, Johnny, uses songs and poems to tell the story of the inhuman conditions Travellers had to live in after the fire. The performance will be in English, with Hungarian subtitles.
"Panna Czinka - The Dance of the Witch"
Artists
Director – Boda-Novy Emília
Writer – Boda-Novy Barnabás
Producer – Balogh Rodrigó
Performers – István Babindák , Zoltán Baranyi, Ramóna Farkas, Máté Pásztor, Béla Vidák
Translation (english) – Kondi Viktória
Short description
A Boda-Novy Barnabás által írt Czinka Panna – Boszorkánycsárdás című előadás a legendás női cigányprímás életét és bátorságát mutatja be.
The play Czinka Panna – The Dance of the Witch written by Barnabás Boda-Novy presents the life and courage of the legendary female Gypsy violinist. Panna was not afraid to oppose the conventions of the age that a woman is responsible for raising children and running a household. Thanks to her talent and landlord’s support, she had a great career as a virtuoso violinist, founding the first Gypsy band, smoking a pipe, and wearing men’s clothing.
Accompanied by romantic, authentic music, the piece depicts the woman who defined Gypsy music in Hungary for centuries and became a dominant figure in Roma culture.
