Programme

Once upon a time, beyond nine seas and nine lands, there where the map hangs on a nail, where the pig roots about with its curly tail, there lived long ago a poor man by the name of Witty Pete. He was mischievous and forever up to tricks: he poked fun at people, teased them, and joked on and on. But not with just anyone, only with those who deserved it: the vain, the arrogant, the gloomy, the loud-mouthed, the conceited, the braggarts and, above all… Well now, it wouldn’t do to tell everything right from the start. Better you see it with your own eyes!

Once upon a time, beyond nine seas and nine lands, there where the map hangs on a nail, where the pig roots about with its curly tail, there lived long ago a poor man by the name of Witty Pete. He was mischievous and forever up to tricks: he poked fun at people, teased them, and joked on and on. But not with just anyone, only with those who deserved it: the vain, the arrogant, the gloomy, the loud-mouthed, the conceited, the braggarts and, above all… Well now, it wouldn’t do to tell everything right from the start. Better you see it with your own eyes!

Ernesztó is recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament tear. They took away his favourite role at the theatre, and they also took away what had always been his reliable crutch: the euphoria of football. Some crutch, right! But still, who took it away? Life? Fate? As always? Is it possible that he wasn’t even happy before? It’s time to pick up the scalpel! Our hero looks inside himself and sees that the threads lead all the way back to 1994, when, in the Italy–Bulgaria World Cup semi-final, Gianluca Pagliuca steps out in perfect timing to intercept Lechkov’s through ball… But the Grasshopper and the Ant also appear, the golden team of Șimian, a compensation of 50,000 euros, grandma’s leg ointment, and a birthday table bending under the weight of food. Everything is connected – that’s why healing is so difficult.

There is a world where anything can be sold — morality, murder, grief. All it takes is a good story — preferably one’s own, moving, and with a life lesson. Or at least one that looks good as a headline. The hunger for stories is endless, but the truth in them no longer matters. Justice becomes a show, where everyone plays a part, and the truth is whatever’s delivered most convincingly. But when the mask falls, what stares back at us is a world we know all too well. Our own. Where truth is just a slick PR trick, and money is the new moral authority.

Ernesztó is recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament tear. They took away his favourite role at the theatre, and they also took away what had always been his reliable crutch: the euphoria of football. Some crutch, right! But still, who took it away? Life? Fate? As always? Is it possible that he wasn’t even happy before? It’s time to pick up the scalpel! Our hero looks inside himself and sees that the threads lead all the way back to 1994, when, in the Italy–Bulgaria World Cup semi-final, Gianluca Pagliuca steps out in perfect timing to intercept Lechkov’s through ball… But the Grasshopper and the Ant also appear, the golden team of Șimian, a compensation of 50,000 euros, grandma’s leg ointment, and a birthday table bending under the weight of food. Everything is connected – that’s why healing is so difficult.

Femminicity PRoject They live among us. We heard about their stories, we watched it over the news, we heard the neighborhood gossip. They are the ones sitting on the farthest bench in the park, the ones always apologizing, the ones never really looking in other people's eye, the ones with just too much makeup, and the ones we turn away from, because the look in their eyes just makes us uncomfortable. We see them but do we really know them? Have we ever asked them, about the choices they made, about the path they walked, about the battles they fought, about the lingering sadness around them, about the cuts and bruises? About their strength to keep going, to keep breathing, to keep longing for a better life, for a calm destination, for 12 A Happiness Street.Let this text be their voices. The unspoken, uncomfortable truth of these women. The performance was produced within the framework of the European project “FemminiCity”, funded by the CERV programme.

The Tót family lives somewhere in a Banat village. Their only son is on the front during the Second World War. At the boy’s suggestion, a major suffering from nervous breakdown arrives at the family home on leave. The parents and the boy’s sister receive the officer as if their son’s fate depended solely on their hospitality: they walk on tiptoe, adjusting to his every demand, even though it becomes uncertain whether the son and the major are still fighting on the same side of the front. At first, submission is guided by hope; later, faced with madness, obedience becomes the only remaining response. How long can vulnerability be endured when decisions are driven by love? When does fear take control, and how does this state come to be perceived as normal?In Horváth Hunor’s staging, The Tót Family becomes a memento marked by black humor: the disintegration of the world is not a single spectacular moment, but rather a small crack in the plaster that spreads slowly and insidiously.

The Tót family lives somewhere in a Banat village. Their only son is on the front during the Second World War. At the boy’s suggestion, a major suffering from nervous breakdown arrives at the family home on leave. The parents and the boy’s sister receive the officer as if their son’s fate depended solely on their hospitality: they walk on tiptoe, adjusting to his every demand, even though it becomes uncertain whether the son and the major are still fighting on the same side of the front. At first, submission is guided by hope; later, faced with madness, obedience becomes the only remaining response. How long can vulnerability be endured when decisions are driven by love? When does fear take control, and how does this state come to be perceived as normal?In Horváth Hunor’s staging, The Tót Family becomes a memento marked by black humor: the disintegration of the world is not a single spectacular moment, but rather a small crack in the plaster that spreads slowly and insidiously.

The Tót family lives somewhere in a Banat village. Their only son is on the front during the Second World War. At the boy’s suggestion, a major suffering from nervous breakdown arrives at the family home on leave. The parents and the boy’s sister receive the officer as if their son’s fate depended solely on their hospitality: they walk on tiptoe, adjusting to his every demand, even though it becomes uncertain whether the son and the major are still fighting on the same side of the front. At first, submission is guided by hope; later, faced with madness, obedience becomes the only remaining response. How long can vulnerability be endured when decisions are driven by love? When does fear take control, and how does this state come to be perceived as normal?In Horváth Hunor’s staging, The Tót Family becomes a memento marked by black humor: the disintegration of the world is not a single spectacular moment, but rather a small crack in the plaster that spreads slowly and insidiously.

Who wouldn’t want to be rich, to earn lots of money with little effort, to wear beautiful clothes, and live in a bigger house? That’s all Jankó ever wanted, so he grabbed his walking stick and set off into the world. And because this was a world of fairy tales, he gained much more than he expected. In addition to riches, he also found the love of a real fairy. Is this the end? Is this the conclusion of the story? No, it is not over—it’s just the beginning. What comes easily goes quickly—and the fairy leaves. Only now does Jankó realize that all the wealth, beautiful clothes, and the big house are worthless without someone to share.So, he takes his walking stick and sets off once again. He no longer cares about treasures or richness, only if that beautiful fairy could be with him one more time. He would even fight the devil himself for her. (And he will.)

Who wouldn’t want to be rich, to earn lots of money with little effort, to wear beautiful clothes, and live in a bigger house? That’s all Jankó ever wanted, so he grabbed his walking stick and set off into the world. And because this was a world of fairy tales, he gained much more than he expected. In addition to riches, he also found the love of a real fairy. Is this the end? Is this the conclusion of the story? No, it is not over—it’s just the beginning. What comes easily goes quickly—and the fairy leaves. Only now does Jankó realize that all the wealth, beautiful clothes, and the big house are worthless without someone to share.So, he takes his walking stick and sets off once again. He no longer cares about treasures or richness, only if that beautiful fairy could be with him one more time. He would even fight the devil himself for her. (And he will.)

Who wouldn’t want to be rich, to earn lots of money with little effort, to wear beautiful clothes, and live in a bigger house? That’s all Jankó ever wanted, so he grabbed his walking stick and set off into the world. And because this was a world of fairy tales, he gained much more than he expected. In addition to riches, he also found the love of a real fairy. Is this the end? Is this the conclusion of the story? No, it is not over—it’s just the beginning. What comes easily goes quickly—and the fairy leaves. Only now does Jankó realize that all the wealth, beautiful clothes, and the big house are worthless without someone to share.So, he takes his walking stick and sets off once again. He no longer cares about treasures or richness, only if that beautiful fairy could be with him one more time. He would even fight the devil himself for her. (And he will.)