Independent Points of View
As a theoretical foreword Péter Forgács D. offers an overview from the art sociology point of view, analysing how the relationship between art―especially dance―and the top echelons of power changed in the last two decades.
Our second column focuses on a prominent independent formation, Sputnik Sailing Company and their piece introduced in January 2010; Throwing the Dice was invited to the National Theater Festival’s programme. A public discussion was facilitated with director Viktor Bodó and several members of the company; the edited version of the talk is featured by our current issue. Throwing the Dice won the international jury’s award on POSZT festival, the piece was also brought to the Alternative Theatre Festival in September, where it was awarded a grand prize. At the end of the month the piece received the Theater Critics’ Prize and got another award in the category of best independent productions.
One of the interesting contemporary theatre companies is Bladder Circus, a formation blending different genres, such as graphic art, performance and music theatre. The company founded back in 1997 won several awards for their piece, Kant, on the Alternative Theatre Festival―including a grand prize. Besides the award winning production we review two other pieces from their repertoire: Jelizaveta Bam and Pinocchio. The reviews are followed by an interview with the founders of the company, Szabolcs Szőke and Attila Rácz. Besides elaborating on their aesthetic principles we touch upon the ensemble’s current problems caused by the fact that the Cultural Ministry is holding back one third of the state funds meant for independent theatres; moreover the funding committee―according to members of the ensemble―has made some wrong decisions while evaluating the independent formations.
Two members of the jury at the Alternative Theatre Festival, theater director Árpád Árkosi and film director György Pálfi are interviewed on their opinion and impressions. The interview is completed by reviews of the festival’s selected pieces (Béla Pintér: Filth; Ferenc Fehér: Tao te; Réka Szabó: The Meaning of Life).
In the last section choreographer-director Péter Uray, manager of the 20 year old Panboro Theatre is giving his reasons why his company didn’t apply for the alternative theatre’s fund.
