PCU English Majors at Szigligeti Színház

Shakespeare – 1970s Sci-fi Feeling – Dramatic Tension in Well-played out Scenes

 

Hot late-autumn weather, big crowd in front of Szigligeti Theatre on 30 October.  Among the people, PCU girls and boys (1st, 2nd and 3rd year English majors and minors) waiting for Midsummer Night’s Dream to begin. Poster and still pictures of the show promised something interesting: some characters had a wig that looked like something in between Spock’s haircut and bob hair – definitely not Shakespeare hairstyle. So, no boring stuff in view and good company – perfect evening-out.

Shakespeare’s one of the, seemingly, flooziest plays. Heavy, tough scenes alternate with light ones. Kings conquer amazon Queens and the latter category is not happy with it but marries him, Fairy Kings and Queens quarrel over a child and cause huge emotional stir among mortals, while in latter group two girls and two boys run after and away from each other in various order. In addition to this, a bunch of craftsmen are preparing a play (and manage to make a pig’s ear out of it). And said Fairy King plays a trick on said Fairy Queen, and makes her fall in love with one of the craftsmen, whose head has been turned into a donkey’s. Add to all these a little devilish fairy who tangles all these up just for fun. So, a lot depends on how the play is adapted to stage. Hence the Spock haircut and the tracksuit with trainers / high-heel white short boots combo on high-class people from Athens. And hence the rainy scenes and brown/green tracksuits of the earthly amateur actors. Amateur-actor scenes gave us a glimpse of how things go during rehearsals – of the funny bits, at least. Others reflect on the intricacies of human relationships.

A great experience to have seen this complex play with 1st, 2nd and 3rd year PCU people. We had a lot of fun, people could discuss the play among each other, (and later in class), have some fun, and be together. Thank you, Ottilia Veres, for making it happen.

 

Written by Julianna Borbély

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