REALM OF SHADOWS
The Lights of the Hungarian Shadow Players
“The
play probably also lies in the fact that the viewer receives reality not face to face, but in a double transmission. Because of this, you become more active, and your imagination is forced to work more intensively.You need to complement this view inside. You have to think of something that gives the visible symbol-shadow a suitable meaning for you as well.”
magic, excitement, and mystery of the shadow
(László Vízvári)
We like to think of shadow play as an ancient and beautiful lyrical art form. Its sophistication, its openwork or its solid silhouettes have a special charm. Light, shadows and shades lead you into the realm of the art of ephemeral transformation.
The shadow play presents the three-dimensional world in two dimensions. And with the disappearance of space, it opens our gaze to infinity, to the perspective of everything possible. The shadow play is the ideal puppet theatre. It offers the possibility for truly creative, active mimesis, and condenses the actual genre of puppetry.
The exhibition of the Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute features contemporary performances where this graceful formal language has come to the fore. Our photo compilation would not have been possible without the help of national and international companies.
“The SILHOUETTE, the outline, the positive accentuated by the negative, and the negative form accentuated by the positive.”
(Imre Gráfik)
Budapest PuppetTheatre:
Frankenstein (2022)
Puppet- and Costume Designer:
Károly Hoffer
Set Designer, Director:Tamás Keresztes
Photography:Anna Éltető
MárkusZínház:
Once I Was… (2020)
Designer: BertaTörök, Lili Eszter Pilári
Director: Zsuzsanna Vajda
Photography: Unknown
Vojtina PuppetTheatre: The Wolf and the SevenYoung Goats
(2008)
Designer: Viola Fodor
Director: Ágnes Kuthy
Photography: Krisztina Csatáry-Nagy
Ciróka PuppetTheatre: Fairy in aTrench Coat (2014)
Designer: Ákos Mátravölgyi
Director: Ágnes Kuthy
Photography: Sándor Ujvári
National PuppetTheatre: Crescendo (1975)
Designer, Director: Róbert Bánky
Photography: Éva Keleti, MTI
Kabóca PuppetTheater: One Shadow Rises (2009)
Designer, Director: Ágnes Kuthy
Photography: DIGITALEXPRESS
Bóbita PuppetTheatre:
Boundless (2007)
Designer: Marieta Golomehova
Director: Zsenya and Peter Pasov
Photography: Unknown
Ciróka PuppetTheatre: The Wild Swans (2017)
Designer: Zsófia Rumi
Director: Zita Szenteczki
Photography: Sándor Ujvári
Griff PuppetTheatre: King Pomádé's New Clothes (2010)
Designer: LillaTakács
Director: Levente Dimény
Photography: Umberto Pezzetta
Freeszfe: The Life Before Us (Momo) (2022)
Set Designer, Puppet Designer: Nóra Vermes
Costume Designer:Anna Prechl
Director:Anna Zorka Maróthy
Photography: Lola Eördögh
VARIATIONS ONATHEME
Ciróka PuppetTheatre:
The First Book of Leporello:Theatre of Shadows (2001)
Designer: Erik Grosschmid, Ákos Mátravölgyi
Director: László Rumi
Photography: Péter Walter
“Life and death, light and shadow, echo and silence in an interpenetrating naturalness.”
(Zsolt Karácsonyi)
“Miss Ophelia went from village to village, from town to town, and the shadows became kings and fools, noble ladies and fiery maidens, wizards and flowers, as needed.”
(Michael Ende: Ophelia's ShadowTheatre)
Ciróka PuppetTheatre:
The First Book of Leporello:Theatre of Shadows (2001)
Designer: Erik Grosschmid, Ákos Mátravölgyi
Director: László Rumi
Photography: Péter Walter
Puck PuppetTheatre: Theatre of Shadows (2022)
Designer: Jacqueline Molnár
Director: László Rumi
Photography: Oana Pop
“-Are you a shadow? – asked Ophelia. The shadow nodded.
- But a shadow always belongs to someone –continued Ophelia.
- No – said the shadow – not all of them. There are some superfluous shadows in the world, which belong to no one and which no one claims. I am one ofthem.MynameisShadowGoblin.” (MichaelEnde:Ophelia’sShadowTheatre)
RadnótiTheater:
Ophelia’s ShadowTheatre (2016)
Designer: Ákos Mátravölgyi
Director: Kata Csató
Photography: Iván Kárpáti
Vojtina PuppetTheatre: Ophelia's picture book: or the Theatre of Shadows (2005)
Designer: Ákos Mátravölgyi
Director: László Rumi
Photography: Krisztina Csatáry-Nagy
“But the donkey felt that something was up. In a careless moment he escaped and headed for Bremen.There he planned to become a town musician.”
(Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm:The Musicians of Bremen)
Hups! Crew: Jam Puppet Concert (2013)
Creators:Anna Spiegel, Dániel Fehér, Károly Hoffer, Dániel Nizsai, Tibor Szolár
Photography: Vera Éder
Lilliput Company of Oradea StateTheatre: The Musicians of Bremen (2015)
Designer: Gabriella Makhult
Director: László Rumi
Photography: Unknown
“In the bottomless stomach of the big fish, you can find all kinds of things. Huge apples, a couple of water animals, a red-haired mermaid, an inflatable rubber duck, a seal balancing a beach ball, a couple of small chairs, maybe a rusty tractor.”
Vojtina PuppetTheatre:
Carved out of wood (2010)
Designer: Edit Szalma
Director: László Rumi
Photography: Krisztina Csatáry-Nagy
Griff PuppetTheatre: Long live Chinoppio! (2018)
Designer: LillaTakács
Director: István Pinczés
Photography: Umberto Pezzetta
(Transcript of Pinocchio by László Upor)
“I can pass nothing except my essence. You are praised enough by this caddish crowd, As to praise you is only fair of them. You gave birth to them as light to shadow, But I’ve been living since eternity.”
(Imre
Bóbita PuppetTheatre:
Trag’of the Man (2014)
Designer: Ágota Matyi
Director: Gábor Sramó
Photography: Máté Komjáthy
Budapest PuppetTheatre: Tragedy of the Man (1999)
Designer: Margit Balla
Director: Dezső Garas
Photography: Vera Éder
Madách:Tragedy of the Man) translated by OttóTomschey
It was, it was not, a white mare that nurses its own human child for fourteen years, until he is strong enough to uproot a tree. The mare dies and the boy departs to see the world. He kills the six-headed dragon in the silver palace and the twelve-headed dragon of the golden palace. Then, all four returntothebasketinorderfortheprincessestoreturntothe upperworld. (TheSonoftheWhiteHorse,Hungarianfolktale)
source:Wikipedia
Vojtina PuppetTheatre:
The Son of the White Horse (2005)
Designer: Judit Bodor,Attila Balaskó
Director: János Pályi
Photography: Krisztina Csatáry-Nagy
Vaskakas PuppetTheatre:
The Son of the White Horse (2000)
Designer: Gyula Majoros
Director: János Pályi
Photography: Unknown
Vojtina PuppetTheatre: John the Valiant (2006)
Designer: Erik Grosschmid
Director: László Rumi
Photography: Krisztina Csatáry-Nagy
Ariel PuppetTheatre,Targu Mures: John the Valiant (2023)
SandAnimation: Ferenc Cakó Designer: Olga Barabás, Erika Iszlai Director: Olga Barabás
Photography: Csaba Fehér
“PoorJohnnytrudgedon,hisblackshadowbehindhim, Thoughhedidn'tneedshadowsandcloudstoremindhim; Thebrightsunhadbrokenthroughovertheplain, Butadarknightofnightsinhisheartstillremained.” (SándorPetőfi:JohntheValiant)
translatedbyJohnRidland
“Then they pretended to take the cloth off the loom, cut it with big scissors, spread the nothing, flashed sewing needles in the air, and announced: the new robe of the emperor is ready!”
(Hans ChristianAndersen:The Emperor's New Clothes)
Csiky Gergely Hungarian StateTheatre ofTimișoara: The Emperor’s New Clothes (2021)
Set Designer: Zoltán Lenkefi
Lighting Designer: Zoltán Gidó
Director: Regina Nagy
Photography: Petru Cojocaru
Mesebolt PuppetTheatre: The Emperor’s New Clothes (2018)
Designer: György Árvai, Edit Szűcs
Director:Tamás Somogyi
Photography: ÁdámTrifusz
- Oh, no!
- What happened?
- I am chased. My father is coming, I feel it, in the grey clouds. We can’t run away, so let’s land and try to deceive him.
- How do we fool him?
- Let's disguise ourselves. You will be a rotten willow now, and I will be a hunched old woman.
Vojtina PuppetTheatre: Rose and Violet (2013)
Designer: Károly Hoffer
Director: Rita Bartal Kiss
Photography: Krisztina Csatáry-Nagy
Budapest PuppetTheatre: Rose and Violet (2012)
Designer: Szilárd Boráros Director: Géza Kovács
Photography: Vera Éder
(Dóra Gimesi’s transcript of Rose and Violet)
“This woman already had two daughters, they came with her. Their faces were beautiful white, but their hearts were ugly black. And from then on, the poor orphan girl had a hard time. Her stepsisters hurt her wherever they could; they themselves were fooling around in front of the mirror all day, and sometimes they neglected their sister for one reason or another, so that there was never a moment's rest from them.”
(Jakob
Vojtina PuppetTheatre: Cinderella (2011)
Designer: Ákos Mátravölgyi
Director: Ágnes Kuthy
Photography: Krisztina Csatáry-Nagy
Vaskakas PuppetTheatre: Cinderella (2018)
Designer: Gábor Michac
Director: GáborTengely
Photography: Sándor Orosz
and Wilhelm Grimm: Cinderella)
HUNGARIANAPPETIZER
Ági Majoros PuppetTheater: Mirror (2010)
Designer: Judit Bor, Ági Majoros, Erik Grosschmid
Creators: Judit Bor, Ági Majoros
Photography: Róbert Bublik
Harlekin PuppetTheatre: Bar (2004)
Designer: Klaudia Orosz
Director: Pál Lengyel
Photography: Gábor Gál
Napsugár PuppetTheatre of Békéscsaba:
The Princess Who Couldn't Go to the Ball (2015)
Designer: Máté Csató
Director: Kata Csató
Photography: Gábor Gál
National PuppetTheatre: Volga Valiant (1970)
Director: Kató Szőnyi
Designer: Iván Koós
Photography: Éva Keleti, MTI
Kabóca PuppetTheater: The Bear Cub (2016)
Puppet- and Costume Designer: Kinga Rofusz
Set Designer, Director: László Rumi
Photography: Roland Peka
“Even though we know it is only an illusion, playing with the aesthetic or optical illusion mesmerizes us and puts us in a state of heightened intensity, causing our eyes to search for the illusion again and again. In this ambivalence of reality and appearance, perception and belief, knowledge and self-deception, lies the source of our pleasure in fleeting self-deception. Paradoxically, this knowledge does not create distance, but on the contrary, we perpetuate the illusion with the greater affection. We see through the sieve – but this also brings us pleasure, because we can experience ourselves doubled and split - on the one hand as consciousandcritical,ontheotherasnaivelygullible.” (NikeBätzner)
Budapest PuppetTheatre: Rumcajs (2020)
Designer: Károly Hoffer
Director: Jankó Schneider
Photography:Anna Éltető
Csodamalom PuppetTheatre of Miskolc: Karagöz (2023)
Puppet Designer:Anna Bódiné Kövecses, Hajnalka Fekete
Set Designer: Géza Nagy Kovács
Director: Szabolcs Károlyi
Photography: Bence Grúz
Q-team:
Androgyn (2004)
Designer, Director: Ágnes Kuthy
Photography:Tamás Katkó
MárkusZínház:
Once I was… (2020)
Designer: BertaTörök, Lili Eszter Pilári
Director: Zsuzsanna Vajda
Photography: Unknown
FigurinaAnimationTheatre: The Kidnapping of the Sun and the Moon (2005)
Designer: Eszter Siklósi, Gábor Siklósi
Director: Gábor Siklósi
Photography: Unknown
Mesebolt PuppetTheatre:
Nanga, the Sorceress (2012)
Designer: Milada Boráros
Director: László Rumi
Photography: Kálmán Garas
Vojtina PuppetTheatre: Little Roly-Poly (2009)
Designer: Szilárd Boráros
Director:András Veres
Photography: Krisztina Csatáry-Nagy
Astra Ensemble: Don Quijote (1973)
Designer:Antónia Ősz Szabó
Director: László Vízvári
Photography: Mária Szilágyi
Griff PuppetTheatre: The Magic Garden (2018)
Designer: Szilárd Boráros
Director: Milada Boráros
Photography: Umberto Pezzetta
Bóbita PuppetTheatre: The Purple-haired Fairy (2019)
Designer: Kitti Csuzda
Director: Dániel Halasi
Photography: Réka Keszthelyi
KolibriTheatre for Children andYouth:
Ruffen and the dragon girl (2022)
Designer: Klaudia Orosz
Director: János Novák
Photography:Anna Éltető
Ciróka PuppetTheatre: Fairy in aTrench Coat (2014)
Designer: Ákos Mátravölgyi
Director: Ágnes Kuthy
Photography: Sándor Ujvári
Béla Kövér PuppetTheatre:
Jankó the Musician’s luck (2012)
Puppet Designer:AndreaTóth
Set Designer: Ákos Mátravölgyi
Director: László Rumi
Photography: Unknown
Vaskakas PuppetTheatre: Alice (2003)
Designer: Svila Velichkova
Director: Biserka Kolevszka
Photography: Unknown
REALM OF SHADOWS
The Lights of the Hungarian Shadow Players
Exhibition of the Puppet Collection of HungarianTheatre Museum and Institute Script, concept: Lilla Lovas
Translated by Bianka Bujtor
Colleagues: Eszter Papp, Katalin Simándi, Zsolt Somogyi
Thanks to the companies and photographers for their help!
