Category Archives: Theater

Dózsa

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Last Saturday night we went to see a dance at Szeged’s open air theater. The production was called Dózsa and it was a folk-dance production about the life of Hungarian hero György Dózsa. For those unfamiliar with Hungarian history, just imagine they made a folk-dance production about William Wallace.

György Dózsa was a 16th-century professional soldier of fortune and (probably) nobleman who became famous first for bravely defending the Kingdom of Hungary against the invading Ottomans. Leo X’s papel edic gave legitimacy to this Crusade and Dózsa was appointed the leader of the movement, recruiting students and peasants to fight.

Not surprisingly, the peasants and other lower classes weren’t paid well (or at all), fed or clothed, and they revolted. When the landowners and nobility demanded the peasants come home to work the fields, they banned together and started brutally killing the landlords, burning homes and castles to the ground. In fact, they nearly destroyed Buda.  Dózsa actually wasn’t all that thrilled with this turn of events, but he wasn’t able to control the peasants either.

Ultimately he was captured, along with some followers. He was brutally (with a capital B) tortured (forced to sit on a heated iron throne and a heated iron crown was put on his head, mocking his ambitions to be a leader or king). His followers fared even worse—some flesh pulling, mutilation, forced cannibalism.  Pretty horrifying medieval torture stuff.

It’s a little unclear why he was turned into a Christian martyr figure, though that was emphasized in the 19th century, after some record (and I use that term very loosely) of monks who claimed to see the Virgin Mary in his ear when he was dying.

Anyway, as usual, it all worked out for the Ottomans. Because after over 70,000 peasants were tortured, killed or suppressed, they didn’t really feel motivated to fight for the kingdom anymore, and the Ottoman Empire easily swept into Hungary (in some cases, even seeming like saviors).

The dance was spectacular, actually. There were amazing folk dances and even guest dancers from Turkey and Romania. Very high energy.  Amazing set design. During the death-scene Dózsa climbed into this HUGE iron helmet, which was set on fire. Plus being outside at the theater is incredible. The night air and cool breeze shooing away the heat of the day.

During the play they really emphasized the Christian martyr connection, with a brief part of the play dedicated to how Dozsa would fight for Capital Him, God, instead of the landowners and nobility. I found it to be bizarre, since it really changed the historical importance and legend of the man who, despite being a nobleman and with absolutely everything to lose, wanted to help the little guy.  If anything, his story shows how the papacy corrupted wholly and in cooperation with the wealthiest of the kingdom, something that wouldn’t change in Hungary, at least, until the 19th century. The resulting laws of the Hungarian Diet increased the status of the nobility and even further decreased the rights of the peasants.

While there were countless Christian warriors at that time fighting in crusades, and perhaps Dózsa and his men fought the Ottomans under that guise, when the peasant revolt began, it no longer had to do with fighting for some greater power, but rather fighting for the people.

Despite the glitches in historical accuracy, the dancing was really great, and isn’t that the important thing? I’m really glad that we got a chance to see it, and I hope that we’ll see another show this summer (hopefully an opera!).

Horse Evolution

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Last weekend we went to see the Horse Evolution show.  It was at the Expo center, and along with our show tickets we were able to see the equestrian exhibition and the snowboarding exhibition next door!  Of all of the shows I have seen in my life, this was, perhaps, the highest on the geek scale.  But it was really spectacular.  And I don’t really know how to describe it.  I will include some youtube videos of the show to give you a better idea of what we saw.  Here is the advertisement for the show:

There are 36 horses in the show, all at the highest levels of training in dressage and other formal skills.

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There were acrobatic routines and dancing (even the horses could tap dance and bow).

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Among other breeds, there were some of the finest Hungarian Arabian horses in the show.  More impressively, the event showcased the Hungarian style of horsemanship, which as I’ve written about several times, and is a long and proud tradition here.  And honestly I don’t know why but when the single white horse was running around I got a little teary.  It was just really beautiful.

The show runs throughout the year across Europe, so if you’re ever in the area, and have a particular love for horses or horse shows, I would definitely recommend checking it out.

Elisabeth in Szeged

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Friday night Györgyi and I went to Szeged to the open-air theater to see the musical, Elisabeth.  It’s originally an Austrian musical portraying the life and death of Elisabeth (Sisi) and the people in her life, but it’s become an incredibly popular musical in Hungary, being that Elisabeth is Hungary’s favorite Queen.  (Incidentally, it is the most successful German-language musical ever).

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I have always adored musicals and this one was very lovely, though a little harder for me to grasp while reading the truly awful subtitles (which I eventually stopped doing and just enjoyed the music and voices).  The show is narrated by Luigi Lucheni, the man who assassinated Elisabeth.  I think the real star of the show is Death, whom Lucheni claims has been Elisabeth’s lover her whole life.

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I told Györgyi that I was a little bit surprised by the show because I think I was expecting Elisabeth to be the star.  But really, the stars were the men in her life.  Her assassin, Death, her husband and her son (and of course the Austrian and Hungarian men who were at the center of the political storm surrounding her and Franz Joseph’s reign).  Now that I think of it, it didn’t really pay her tribute or reverence, and I say that only observationally.  It really was a very “masculine” musical, if there is such a thing!

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But the show was still a marvelous experience, and I hope I can go again next summer.  Just being outside in that historical square under the shadow of the Dom.  It was amazing.  After intermission there is a scene where there are fireworks (just in case you forget that you’re at an open-air theater.)

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We had a great seats right in the center and relatively close to the orchestra.  The whole run has been sold out for months, so it was great to have such a good location.  Hungarians entirely adore the arts and culture and it was evident by the crowd.

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And I don’t know if it was an Austrian-imported tradition, but the pretzels that I see at all fairs were even more present at the theater.  At intermission, almost everyone I saw returned with one of these GIANT PRETZELS.  They sort of tasted like what Americans think of as Easter bread.  Not like the heavy super pretzels at baseball games, but rather sweet and light with a touch of salt glaze.

Through the church giggles with Györgyi while reading the bad translation (God knows why they thought trying to rhyme it in English was a good idea) and the stage lights sweeping the near midnight cobble stone and bricked square, it was an absolutely wonderful way to return to Hungary and to Szeged, my favorite home away from home.

And for a little taste of the show, here is what I thought was the best part, the duet between Death and Elisabeth’s son, Rudolf:

A Change of Plans

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It was sometime between going to the completely wrong (and opposite) district in Budapest to drop off Barnus (who would have thought there would be TWO Barackfa utcas in one Hungarian city), and discovering the bad-news traffic inching along the highway just outside of the city, that we decided to just go to Szeged instead of Croatia.  Granted, it wasn’t the best planning to leave the city at noon on Friday and try to go to another country, but since the trip was only supposed to take five hours, we figured it wouldn’t be a big deal.  We’d be at the sea by dinner!, we said.  No.  We wouldn’t.  And since it took over an hour just go a handful of kilometers after finally dropping off Barnabás at the dog hotel, Györgyi and I held an emergency plan-change meeting in the Trapista cheese aisle in District XXI’s mega Auchan.  We decided to make sandwiches in the car, reprogram the GPS, and head to Szeged instead.

And it turned out to be a great decision.  One of Györgyi’s apartments next to the Tisza river was vacant, since her German tenant, Iris, just graduated Medical school and moved back to Germany last Monday.  So, we had a great place to stay right in the center of town.  Our main goal for the weekend was to go swimming, get some sun, and eat as much Szeged-style fish soup as our stomaches could hold.  And we accomplished it all.

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On Friday night we ate at Kiskőrössy Halászcsárda (contact info below).  I’m sorry I didn’t take more pictures, but I was so hungry that I didn’t even think to snap any.  Except for this next one, and that’s only because Györgyi let the waiter put a bib on her.  I mean seriously, folks, how much can go wrong with a little cauldron of fish soup?

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We had an appetizer, which was battered and fried fish cheeks.  And they still had the bones and the gills and everything on them.  But if you’ve never had fish cheeks before, and you probably haven’t in America since in America it’s a part of the fish that gets thrown away (only in America do they throw away the best bit), you should know that it is the sweetest part of the fish.  Fatty and sweet.  Nothing better.

And our main course was fish soup.

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It’s a specialty of the region, and I don’t know the exact ingredients, but basically it’s fresh fish (pieces of catfish and carp) with veggies and paprika and served scalding hot in a cauldron.  Love it!  On the side they give you hot peppers and classic fresh Hungarian white bread.

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After dinner, we went to the main square, which is closed to all car traffic, and is filled with cafes and people.  I could seriously live the rest of my life in this square.  We sat at the oldest and most famous cafe in Szeged: Virág Cukrászda and Györgyi finally was able to get her celebratory birthday ice cream.  Very fancy indead.

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Throughout the year, Szeged has been a constant comfort to me.  It’s so much more quiet than Budapest, and even though I love the big, European city, there is nothing better (especially for the heart of a simple, Midwestern gal like me) than to go to a small town that still has all of the best qualities of a European city:  people talking and laughing the night away in a old, beautiful square, drinking coffee and wine, eating cakes and gelato, all while the old fountains rumble in the background.  Yes, you can feel among the history of Europe when you’re in Budapest and you see all of the famous monuments and bridges and castles.  But when you go to the small towns, you can really start to feel like you belong there.

After we left the confectionary, we decided to go for a nightswim.  During the day, the Sportuszoda is basically closed to the public, because it is where the water polo guys train (Hungarians won the Olympic gold medal afterall, so, we’ll forgive them for stepping on the toes of people like us who want to swim a few laps and then go have a cappuccino at the cafe).  But the pool opens for nightswimming after 8pm until 11pm (on weekdays).  Since it was Friday, we decided to go at 10, and though all of the lanes were full, there weren’t more than two people in each.  We swam for almost 45 minutes, and under the warm, night air and rising moon, it was such a peaceful experience.  By the end of the hour, we were the last ones left in the pool.  We sort of floated our last lap back to the start and I have to say it was one of the best experiences I’ve had here so far.  It’s always the simple things.

And the most magical thing– the apartment is one corner from the Dóm Square, which is transformed in the summer to the open air theater.  Since it rained lightly for about an hour, the operett Cigányszerelem (Gypsy Love) was delayed, and didn’t finish until well after midnight.  I fell asleep that night to the sounds of the soprano’s melody meandering slowly from the square to the surrounding streets.

Tomorrow:  a post and some pictures of the wild (and odd) archery fair at Ópusztaszer.  And a little bit more fish soup.

Kiskőrössy Halászcsárda (yes, they take reservations)
6727 Szeged, Felső-Tisza-part
Telefon: 62/555-886

From Ballet to Brûlée

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The truth is, you really cannot claim yourself to be an open-minded, progressive, viewer des arts until you’ve seen a few things.  Now, I don’t claim to be even close to an expert, but I’ve seen a few things in my day.  Extended performance pieces shut down by cops, food art raided by the health department, certain slam poetry performances that no one should ever be exposed to.  But still, I go back time and time again.  It’s entertaining.  Stimulating.  Interesting, if nothing else.  And though I know I’m going to get a lot of hate mail for this one, I’m ready to add a new category to my list of you-must-survive to claim to be an art lover:  contemporary ballet.

On Friday night, Györgyi and I went to the Művészetek Palotája where the ballet company of Győr was performing Gaudí in the Fesztivál Színház.  The Művészetek Palotája, or Palace of Arts, opened four years ago and won the Prix d’Excellence in 2006.  It’s a stunning structure, both outside and in.

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The ballet that we saw was inside the Palce of Arts in a small theater called the Fesztivál Színház.  Even though the main structure is so large, the smaller theater where we saw the ballet was quaint.  It also smelled like new wood, which is incredibly appealing to me.

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So the ballet was two hours with an intermission in the middle.  We were drinking wine in the lobby before the show and they made at least four announcements that the show was about to begin.  I still haven’t adapted to the Hungarian sense of time, which is always just a little bit late.  While I gulped the last of my wine and warned G that the announcement had been made, she calmly reassured me, “Oh, they’ll make at least another two announcements.”  And she was right, the dance started about 10 minutes late because at the exact starting time only about twenty percent of the theater was full.

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So Gaudí was interesting in that kind of in italics kind of way.  I mean coming out of school with a liberal arts masters degree I could go back and forth with quasi critical observations, but in my brain I was really thinking, “why are those people rolling around on the floor” and “someone should really use bleach on the costumes b/c they look like dirty underwear.”  But Györgyi is someone of an expert of contemporary dance, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt.  Here is the explanation from the ballet company:

He has formulated perfect harmony by combining various styles and materials. We, using the versatility of various cultures in ballet, attempt to present the Antoni Gaudí, the main character’s life, habits and the four of his most important works. The architect’s death does not represent mortality but the beginning of a rebirth, the eternity left for us in his legacy.

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Even though I couldn’t make the connection from what I was seeing on the stage and what was written in the program guide, there were several really beautiful dances.  The set design was fantastic as well and the production also made use of screens and light in a really interesting way.  I didn’t really get religion, isolation, or rebirth from it, but at the end of the ballet, Gaudí slams five or so balloons onto the stage floor, which explode in colored paint, which was, for lack of more sophisticated observation, really really cool.

After the ballet we went to dinner at the very lovely Trattoria Toscana. I regret not taking pictures of the meal, because it was thoroughly delicious.  Before leaving, I read some of the local restaurant reviews by (mostly) American visitors.  Everyone agreed that the food was amazing but the service was terrible.  This is a common complaint with American visitors to Budapest.  But I thought that the service was fine.  Of course our waitress didn’t give us kisses on our cheeks or tell us how brilliant we were, but she got everything right and didn’t scowl.  Americans need to just relax about this issue about service in Europe.  It’s not going to change, so just embrace it and enjoy the food.

For starters I had a warm radicchio salad with bacon and pine nuts.  It was incredible.  For my main course I had a homemade pasta with a variety of fresh seafood including prawns, lobster, clams, muscles, and octopus. G also had a homemade pasta with prosciutto and porcini mushrooms.  Our deserts were equally amazing.  She had white chocolate moose and I had a gigantic crème brûlée with fresh strawberries.  We each had a cappuccino.  Finally, to put the service issue to rest once and for all, as we waited to finish paying the bill, the server (who had noticed that we were speaking English, by the way) asked us, in English, if we would like some complimentary grappa or limoncello.  This is a courtesy that they extend to everyone as they wait to finish paying.  We both had limoncello and it was the perfectly sweet ending to a lovely night.