Theater of Jokes with Somber Background
Hungarian Theater Icon Péter Halász Returns to His Homeland

A "cultural mercenary" is what well-known Hungarian theatrical actor, director and writer Peter Halász describes himself as.

During his remarkable career, he has had theater companies based in Hungary, Paris and New York, and has put on plays throughout Europe. However, there was a time when such freedom of movement and expression was much more difficult. Back in 1976, he was forced to leave Hungary after running into trouble with the authorities because of the content of his plays. "The trouble was that everything was censored in those days, and we started to work without censorship. Everything that we did was banned or prohibited, but we still continued," Halász explained.

Eventually, though, the authorities intervened. "They said that we were banned as a company, and we were not allowed to do anything," he stated. With the same dedication and inventiveness that has characterized his entire career, rather than give up, he simply moved the company into his flat, where they continued to give performances. However, they were still being closely watched. "They were listening to our telephone, and actually there was an agent that was a member of our company for a while," he said. "But, I didn’t live in a state of paranoia – I said ‘I do what I do, and I want to live’."

Despite their determination, the members of Halász’s company were finding the practicalities of remaining in Budapest increasingly difficult. They saw their opportunity when a new agreement on human rights appeared. "They said ‘you can stay, virtually jailed and jobless, or you can go. You will be the example, that we sign this agreement.’ Eventually, I was quite glad we could leave," Halász recalled.

The company moved to Paris, where they quickly found that they had to adapt to overcome the language barrier. "We used a lot of text, but we didn’t have too much dialogue," he continued. "We never imitated dialogue onstage … and we had to replace it with actions and text."

In 1977, the company decided to move to New York, where they continued to innovate and develop this new style of theatre. They had invented a style called "storefront theatre."

"The trick was that the audience sat inside the store facing the shop window, and the stage was in front of the window and behind the window, out in the street," Halász said. "People reacted from the street, they came into the stage, and sometimes they were arrested."

Halász and his company enjoyed significant success in New York and Europe, and it was only by accident that he once again became involved in theatre in Hungary.

"I returned, really by chance, because we settled and we thought Communism wouldn’t be over, not in my lifetime," he recollected. "So when I returned, touring in Europe, crossing Hungary to Slovenia, my manager, behind my back, arranged some appearances on stage, and there was no time to say, ‘Let’s not, nobody’s interested, we are forgotten.’ Then, we returned and there were huge crowds, and there were more people interested than when we had left."

Since then, he has worked in several theatres in Hungary and elsewhere in Europe, as well as in New York. One of the most well-known and unusual series of plays that he has put on in Hungary since his return in 1990 is the "News Theatre" plays that he put on at the Katona József Theater.

"I wrote with my team, every evening after 10 pm, a play based upon one article in the next day’s papers, and by the morning at 10 am, it was all ready. We would rehearse in the morning, and the very day when the people read the article, in the evening we would perform something," he said.

This inventiveness is also evident in Halász’s current project. He has assembled a small company and is working from the Városi Theater in the 8th District of Budapest.

"We will open the Theatre of Jokes on October 27th," Halász said. "It will be real dramatized jokes. Jokes are a very popular thing and everybody understands the basic language. It’s not stand up comedy; we won’t tell jokes and we won’t dramatize in the way ‘One policeman said…’ We’re trying to get behind the bricks of the joke. How did it happen? What is the real background of a joke?

"But in the meantime, the joke will stimulate itself, so by the time the punch-line comes, I hope it will explode. It’s also like ‘Arabian Nights,’ in that one story starts, then another story comes in, and the other story continues like an arabesque, and then it turns into one ending."

Halász concluded, "I would like to create a play that people watch with real interest. I see in Hungary plays where you put your hand up to cover your yawn, and the next moment you clap your hands together like iron."

If his previous works are anything to go by, he needn’t be worried – yawning will definitely not be an option.

October 2001
Hannah Cawthorne