Interview with Szabó K. István

"Developing the independent sector is a heavy undertaking, if not impossible at the moment..."

Szabó K. István has an interesting managerial development, that started, years back, in Odorheiu Secuiesc, and that continues, presently, in Bucharest. As a director, lately he has staged in Bucharest, Sibiu, Piatra Neamţ.

You were five years director of the Hungarian Theatre in Odorheiu Secuiesc, then you ran for the same position at the Hungarian Theatre in Timişoara; in the end, you became director of the Arca Theatre in the capital. What have you experienced as a theatre manager, in all this time?
My adventure in cultural management had its debut unexpectedly. I assumed artistic command, then also administrative, of the theatre in Odorheiu Secuiesc at age 23, forced by surrounding circumstances (the sudden resignation of the founding director after only a year after the theatre was formed) and pressed by a handful of actors wanting for artistic performance. Looking back, I think that I've paid my dues honourably, by building a theatre practically from scratch, with the help of some enthusiastic artists and of a few financial sustainers. In short time, the Odorhei theatre consolidated its position as a serious theatrical workshop, arguing its presence in the native artistic area - and not only - with numerous incisive, valuable, recognized and award wining shows. I said adventure, because I never set myself up to transforming the function of director into my profession. True, I was helped also by the politics to not be too persistent in this formula. Not being an amateur in political games, having also the professional defect (from the perspective of the director function) of manifesting my disgust for the boorishness and arrogance of the unskilled politician - I quit in 2005, with the thought of following my path, as a director. The period that came immediately after set me up for another trap in the form of the director's chair. This time at the Hungarian Theatre in Timişoara. Being lured into the possibilities of creating a veritable workshop there, I tried my "luck". The winning lotto was hidden this time as well up the political sleeve. Still, I left Timişoara with the satisfaction of having met an ambitious collective, that of the resurrected National Theatre, that permitted me to real moments of joy during the rehearsals of the Edwardian show.

I think that developing the independent sector is a viable chance for regulating a dynamic artistic, performant market in Romania. A heavy undertaking, if not impossible at the moment, because of the persistence of a communist mentality, which presupposes the exclusive maintenance of the reinforced concrete booths (as in the Theatre Institution), with rationalized products. The lack of a legislation that can facilitate from public funds (taking into consideration the character of these organizational formations, the bureaucratic difficulties that it stumbles across in a period of their pioneering in our cultural parameter), the inefficiency of the Law of sponsorship - all these do nothing except to delay a natural process of development of cultural life, implicitly of the art of the show, in Romania.

The ARCA Theatre is such a theatre. Initiated by Dan Hornoiu and Victor Scoradeţ, it had its resonating debut with the show Top Dogs in 2005. This space proposed to promote a courageous theatre, based on the inspiration of new contemporary, even uncomfortable actors. The initial stride was slowed by lack of finances. This fact did not mean the end of the project, but the performance of the debut was not repeated. At the invitation of Dan Hornoiu, I left for Bucharest and elaborated a program of long-term development, trying to bring up to speed the objectives of this space, starting from the premises already set. When I wanted to begin implementing the plan per say, I was met by the same barriers: bureaucracy, the unserious protectorate of arts and legislative confusion. Out of the planned program last season I wasn't able to set up but very little. Even more, my show Blasted after Sarah Kane, is halted for the moment, for lack of funds for renting the technical equipment. Even so, ARCA breathes. As proof, the debut show of the director Felix Crainicu, Hipioţi şi bolşevici (Hippies and Bolsheviks, n.t.), was selected for the National Theatre Festival in 2009.

With Şocant (Blasted), you've set yourself alongside a series of directors that have staged, in an almost frantic Sarah Kane period in Romania. What made you believe in Sarah Kane, after other directors had done her other texts and what made you choose exactly Blasted?
Blasted occupies a special place in the drama of Sarah Kane. Labelled in all manners, from horror to genius, this dramatic material seems to have in it - at least as I see it - very many elements from the texts that will follow. Its cruelty intrigues me and fascinates me at the same time. I came across it in 1998, during a workshop of the Dramatist Festival. I worked then on a few fragments with the National Theatre of Târgu Mureş. Now I felt the need to develop this "relationship", without mystifying the personality of the author. I am intrigued by the restlessness, her angst, because they, in an essential formula, reclaim the state of a world: of a mechanized social system, the frustration of a society set before it own redefined needs.

You set up Râs Nervos (Nervous Laughter) by Christopher Durang at the Youth Theatre in Piatra Neamţ. How doe this show fit into your gallery of stagings, in your artitic proram?
Nervous Laughter offered me the joy of meeting two artists of great perspecitve for the Romanian stage: Isabela Neamţu and Cezar Antal. All though I am rather attracted to ample constructs, this show, this show, unusually verbal for "my gallery", has disciplined me a little in relation to the written text, to the author's intentions, not leaving me too much space for maneuvering beyond the indicating sense. At the same time, by focusing exclusively upon the data of the actors and his possibilities of expression, we were able to reciprocally accord more attention to one another, more patience in the elaboration of the stage act. In my artistic program I could categorize it within the section necessary exercises, and if the show is loved by interpreters and appreciated by the public, as is the case here, it can be moved to the successful section.

How did you make your entrance into the theatre in Sibiu?
At the Radu Stanca National Theatre I was invited to stage a show in the 2007-2008 season. I worked in German Das Kalte Kind (The Cold Child n.t.) by Marius von Mayenburg. I discovered in the sibian theatre a frantic atmosphere of creation. We collaborated very well so it was a great pleasure for me to return, in the next season, with a staging in an unconventional space, on a stage set up in the Small Square, where I built up the musical show Cum s-a lecuit suferința domnului Mockinpott (How Mr. Mockinpott's suffering was calmed n.t.) by Peter Weiss.

What do you feel is the opening for the Hungarian theatre in Romania towards Hungarian speaking directors, also from Romania, and towards you especially?
Regarding the presence of my shows - or rather their absence - from the Hungarian stage in Romania I don't know what I could say. I go where I'm wanted. I had the chance to collaborate with more than one Romanian theatre, such as the one from Timişoara, Sf. Gheorghe, Bucureşti, Brăila, Ploeşti, Piatra Neamţ, Sibiu, Reşiţa, Tg. Mureş, and only two Hungarian theatres in the country: Odorheiu Secuiesc and Timişoara, followed by a collaboration with the Oradea State Theatre during the next season. I think my shows aren't really known within the Hungarian theatre circuit, exceptions being the few done at Odorheiu Secuiesc and that have come close to the Hungarian medium thanks to the festivals that they wee invited to. But it's nothing strange. I notice an attraction towards inter-culturalization both in the Hungarian theatre, as well as the Romanian one. A good example I this sense is the Hungarian Theatre in Cluj. We have much to learn from one another. The opening can only be beneficent.

What are you to stage and where?
At the end of August I will begin rehearsals for the Youth Theatre in Piatra Neamţ. We are to settle on the title in the comming days, and the premiere will be in October.