{"id":527,"date":"2016-11-29T18:33:24","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T18:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/?p=527"},"modified":"2023-06-03T08:06:49","modified_gmt":"2023-06-03T08:06:49","slug":"a-ruthless-rewriting-of-the-beggars-opera-in-timisoara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/a-ruthless-rewriting-of-the-beggars-opera-in-timisoara\/","title":{"rendered":"A Ruthless Rewriting of The Beggar\u2019s Opera<\/em> in Timi\u015foara"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maria Z\u0103rnescu<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n

The “Csiky Gergely” Hungarian State Theatre of Timi\u015foara, Romania. Koldusopera<\/em> (Beggar’s Opera) <\/em>by Kokan Mladenovi\u0107 and Korn\u00e9lia G\u00f3li, after John Gay’s play. Music: Irena Popovi\u0107, lyrics and directing: Kokan Mladenovi\u0107, set design: Marija Kalabi\u0107, costumes: Tatjana Radi\u0161i\u0107, choreography: Andreja Kule\u0161evi\u0107. Cast: G\u00e9za Aszalos, Attila Bal\u00e1zs, Andr\u00e1s Zsolt Bandi, Em\u00edlia B. Borb\u00e9ly, Zsolt Csata, Attila Kiss, Rita L\u0151rincz, Etelka Magyari, Zsolt Imre M\u00e1ty\u00e1s, Bence Moln\u00e1r, Andr\u00e1s Csaba Molnos, Levente Kocs\u00e1rdi, Emese Sim\u00f3, M\u00f3nika Tar, Andrea Tokai. Orchestra: Cosmin H\u0103r\u015fian, Cristian Csaba Dragalina, Csongor-Zsolt Szab\u00f3, Ilko Gradev, Marcelle Poaty-Souami. Date of the premiere: 4 April 2015.<\/p>\n

There have been more than a few national \u201cfirsts\u201d that make the Western city of Timi\u015foara a special, unique place in the Romanian geographic space. These include some widely known ones (first city to have gas lamps, later electric lamps lit streets, first emergency ambulance service, first trolley bus line, first horse-driven, later electric street tramcars, first stem cell transplantation or oldest attested brewery), and some less known or simply ignored ones (Beethoven\u2019s first lover was the wife of a former city official). The first elementary school was opened in Timi\u015foara, so was the first public library with borrowing services, and it was also here, starting with the middle of the eighteenth century, that a permanent theatre season was inaugurated. Later, the \u201cFranz Josef\u201d Theatre was built in Neo-Renaissance style by the famous Viennese architects Fellner and Helmer. It was inaugurated in 1875 with a play by the local author Csiky Gergely. The monumental building still marks the city centre and hosts, at present, the Opera and three separate theatrical institutions, acting in Romanian, Hungarian and German, which is a unique feature in Europe. As officially acknowledged by the designation of Timi\u015foara as the European Cultural Capital in 2021, we are embraced here by the specific energy of a cultural diversity melting pot.<\/p>\n

\"Actors
Actors take over The Beggar’s Opera<\/em> in Timi\u015foara. Photo by M\u00e1rton B\u00edr\u00f3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No wonder, then, to find classical and contemporary mixed in the production of Koldusopera<\/em> (Beggar’s Opera<\/em>) by the \u201cCsiky Gergely\u201d Hungarian State Theatre of Timi\u015foara. The eithteenth-century story, originally taking place in London, surprisingly (or not) hints explicitly to the present-day world. But let\u2019s go back to history. In the beginning, there was The Beggar\u2019s Opera<\/em>, written by John Gay, an Englishman, in 1728. It is a satirical melodrama, on the one hand criticizing the social and political realities of the time (by means of a sentimental parody) and on the other hand satirizing the Italian opera, a genre that was very much loved in the Europe of the Enlightenment, but not so much in England. This was a so-called ballad opera, defying all the established conventions of the time. The action no longer concerns the upper class but, rather, shifts to the \u201cmud\u201d of London\u2019s society (beggars, thieves, prostitutes) and\u2014surprise!\u2014all the behaviors observed \u201cthere\u201d are familiar \u201chere\u201d: frivolities, hypocrisies, vices, betrayals, cupidity and social climbing desire. The work is also a caustic pamphlet with allusions to the Italian opera, whose representative, Georg Friedrich H\u00e4ndel, was living in England at the time. In the Beggar’s Opera<\/em>, Johann Cristoph Pepusch\u2019s music does not sound like H\u00e4ndel, although\u2014oh, the irony\u2014the thieves\u2019 entrance is marked by the march from Rinaldo<\/em>. . . .<\/p>\n

Two hundred years later, Bertolt Brecht rediscovers in this writing the day-to-day life, the typical attitudes of the contemporary man towards the social evolution, and writes, in 1928, Die Dreigroschenoper<\/em> (The Three Penny Opera<\/em>), accompanied by Kurt Weill\u2019s music (and his famous Mack the Knife song). By distancing himself, to a certain extent, from the original story, Brecht emerges with the perspective of his time (Berlin, the twentieth century), with an attempt to demonstrate that tensions between different social groups may be corrected through the theatre. The spectator can exercise his judgment on the world brought on stage. There have been numerous renderings of the play (starting with the one made by the author himself) and, still, almost a century later, the text has not lost its power to fascinate through its actuality and, foremost, through the countless possibilities of placement in time and space.<\/p>\n

\"Attila
Attila Bal\u00e1zs (left) and Andrea Tokai, the sharp couple of Mr. and Mrs. Peachum. Photo by Maria \u015etef\u0103nescu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Serbian director Kokan Mladenovi\u0107 found himself attracted by these possibilities and, together with the writer Korn\u00e9lia G\u00f3li, re-wrote the play in 2015. The result was\u2014at first sight, only\u2014a story with no time or place indication, with no country or nationality clue, but, alas, so contemporarily familiar. A story with hookers and beggars, with petty thieves and highway robbers, about our world, where corruption is a normal fact, the moral values no longer exist and our lives are exclusively controlled by money.<\/p>\n

Kokan Mladenovi\u0107 (b. 1970) is one of the most acclaimed (and controversial) directors in Serbia, where he stages performances in Serbian and Hungarian\u2014often with messages to embarrass the establishment. For the \u201cCsiky Gergely\u201d Hungarian State Theatre of Timi\u015foara, he chose to adapt The Beggar’s Opera<\/em>, based on John Gay\u2019s play, as its message is quite applicable to the present and refers to the obvious connections between the high level politics, the judiciary and police systems and the banking institutions, with criminal groups. It results in a critical approach of society\u2014not Romania\u2019s, Hungary\u2019s or Serbia\u2019s, but the contemporary global world\u2019s, in general. It is the director\u2019s opinion that the human society has not made any anthropological progress; there is only technological and artistical evolution. Man will continue to need ilusions and more than that, stories\u2014possibly delivered by the theatre.<\/p>\n

Consequently, the action takes place in a present-day theatre, where, just like in a brothel, there is no democracy, the actors are mostly unemployed, living and working in precarious conditions. Theatrical art and beggary seem to be fed by the same soil. Nevertheless, the artistic egos are of a size different from that of other professions, and that explains why the characters do not shun from excesses of one kind or another. The most innocent seems to be the manager (played by Attila Bal\u00e1zs, the actual manager of the Timi\u015foara theatre), who finds himself between the hammer and the anvil: the hammer of the authorities and the anvil of the employees. The latter want either to go on strike (some of them), or to play the premiere (all the rest). As expected, a compromise will be found: the show will be played, but it will be the actors\u2019 own version, in which the original story alternates with the performers\u2019 improvisations. The \u201ctheatre in theatre\u201d mode is activated and, from then on, everything is permitted on stage.<\/p>\n

\"Andr\u00e1s
Andr\u00e1s Csaba Molnos (right) and Emese Sim\u00f3, the young-but-not-so-romantic Macheath family. Photo by Adi Marineci<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As is the case with Gay’s and Brecht’s plays, the present text has received its own music by means of the songs composed by Irena Popovi\u0107, an old associate of the director (who brought with him a complete artistic team from Serbia). A mixture of rock, jazz, symphonic and pop is to be found in the music of the new Opera<\/em>, performed live by a small orchestra and by the fifteen actors of the cast. They seem almost genetically qualified for such productions combining acting, singing and dancing. Choreographer Andreja Kule\u0161evi\u0107 \u201cexploits\u201d the team\u2019s potential and the incredible rhythm of the show captivates the audience for two short hours.<\/p>\n

Attila Bal\u00e1zs, in the role of Peachum, the \u201cBeggar’s Friend\u201d\u2014a businessman of no scruples, and Andrea Tokai, in that of Mrs. Peachum, his wife, recreate humorously and with (self) irony the typical couple ambiance (which they have already created in other productions of the Timi\u015foara stage). Together, they educate their young daughter Polly, played with a delightfully dissimulated candor and equally much humor by Emese Sim\u00f3, whom they try to persuade that times have changed and love is only for fools. \u201cIf you\u2019re smart, you leave him without his dough!\u201d is a wise parental piece of advice. However, the girl dreams of love, reads books and writes poems, vowing eternal love to bandit Macheath. Playing the latter, Andr\u00e1s Csaba Molnos impresses through his physical presence and a bad-omen-bearing smile. In spite of the exchanged vows and the regular wedding, Macheath has to confront some of his ex-lovers: Lucy Lockit, the daughter of the prison\u2019s boss, and Jenny Diver, a young woman once seduced, abandoned and left, thus, on the no-return path to the brothel. Playing these two roles, Em\u00edlia B. Borb\u00e9ly and Etelka Magyari complete the feminine triangle of jealousy. The main roles are accompanied by the performance of the troupe, functioning remarkably both in the supporting roles and (especially) in ensemble scenes. \u201cThe Beggars\u2019 March,\u201d \u201cThe Whore\u2019s Song,\u201d \u201cCorruption Tango \/ The Prison Dance\u201d are only some of the most appreciated by the audience.<\/p>\n

\"In
In theatre’s “times of crisis,” T-shirts with printed characters work as costumes. Photo by M\u00e1rton B\u00edr\u00f3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Successful moments are, also, the irresistibly comical ones, reflecting the parody of Polly\u2019s and Macheath\u2019s love scene. Following a letter received from a former fan spectator (now a nervous one, displeased by the too serious content of the theatre\u2019s productions), love becomes again the main theme on stage. And not in a single random interpretation, but in a choice of three versions: the Indian Bollywood-like movie, the hot Latin passion or the drowsy Titanic<\/em>-inspired aspiration towards the Absolute. The audience\u2019s reaction is not long in coming, so that the fictitious (but perfectly plausible) fan is now rewarded by the spectators\u2019 laughter.<\/p>\n

It is also in the parody mode that the set is conceived (design Marija Kalabi\u0107, costumes Tatjana Radi\u0161i\u0107), illustrating some of the \u201cprinciples\u201d so often invoked in the theatre: \u201ccheap and good\u201d or the use of whatever is to be found in the storeroom. No wonder, then, to see chairs, a chandelier and a ladder, veils, balloons and plastic flowers, barrels, buckets and pistols. At the same time, the crown-hats and the crinolines, the bellies and the humps are all reduced to their \u201cfleshless\u201d skeletons, while the characters are suggested by simple costume elements.<\/p>\n

The songs\u2019 verses (variations on the same theme) emphasize the message of the Timi\u015foara production: the world is doomed to a whore\u2019s fate; the country is rotten and falling apart; there is always an escape route from the law for the corrupt; if one has money, one has no problems; ignorance and not wisdom is in fashion nowadays; we beg, we steal. . . . In this context, the Mayor\u2019s classical cue in Gogol\u2019s The Government Inspector<\/em> reveals its universal meaning: \u201cWhat are you laughing at? You are laughing at yourself.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"maria-zarnescu-2013-254x300\"<\/p>\n

<\/a>*Maria Z\u0103rnescu <\/strong>(b. 1969, Bucharest) is a Romanian theatre scholar and critic, PhD Senior Lecturer at the National University of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography \u201cI.L. Caragiale,\u201d Bucharest. She is the author of Muzici \u015fi Muze <\/em>(Music and Muses<\/em>, 2015) and Sunetul Muzicii de Teatru <\/em>(The Sound of Theatre Music<\/em>, 2016). She was also authored theatre and music reviews, studies and essays published in Critical Stages<\/em>, Time Out Bucharest<\/em>, Teatrul Azi<\/em>, Yorick<\/em>, Concept<\/em>, Theatron<\/em>. UNITER (The Romanian Association of Theatre Professionals). She received the award for Best Theatre Critic <\/em>in 2015. She has consolidated experience as a radio journalist and manager, TV editor, and event producer.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2016 Maria Z\u0103rnescu
\nCritical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This work is licensed under the
\nCreative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maria Z\u0103rnescu* The “Csiky Gergely” Hungarian State Theatre of Timi\u015foara, Romania. Koldusopera (Beggar’s Opera) by Kokan Mladenovi\u0107 and Korn\u00e9lia G\u00f3li, after John Gay’s play. Music: Irena Popovi\u0107, lyrics and directing: Kokan Mladenovi\u0107, set design: Marija Kalabi\u0107, costumes: Tatjana Radi\u0161i\u0107, choreography:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performance-reviews","","tg-column-two"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/11\/Maria-Zarnescu-2013-254x300.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p83Osv-8v","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1366,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions\/1366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/14\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}