2h with intermission
Victor, nine years old: ÁRON DIMÉNY
Charles Paumelle, Victor's father: ZSOLT BOGDÁN
Émilie Paumelle, Victor's mother: EMŐKE KATÓ
Lili, Paumelle's maid: CSILLA VARGA
Esther, six years old: CSILLA ALBERT
Antoine Magneau, Esther's father: ERVIN SZŰCS
Thérèse Magneau, Esther's mother: ANDREA VINDIS
Le général Louségur: JÓZSEF BIRÓ
Madame Ida Mortemart: ENIKŐ GYÖRGYJAKAB
Doctor, The mute lady, Maria, maid: LEVENTE MOLNÁR
Directed by SILVIU PURCĂRETE
Set and costume design: DRAGOŞ BUHAGIAR
Music composed by VASILE ŞIRLI
Musical consultant: KATALIN INCZE G.
Director's assistant: ISTVÁN ALBU
Set designer`s assistants: PETRE-TIBERIUS TRIFAN, VLADIMIR IUGANU
Stage manager: YVONNE NAGY
If we look at the cast of the play, it may seem that we are dealing with a boulevard play very common in contemporary Parisian theatres at that time. However, when we discover that the main hero, Victor, who is celebrating his ninth birthday, is five foot eleven inches tall, we start to suspect that we are being presented with something other than a realistic representation or imitation of bourgeois life. Already in the first scene there is a series of provocations as Victor manipulates the maid and breaks a valuable Sèvres vase. He also accuses her, saying that she provides sexual services for her employers. The illusion of bourgeois life and values falls into decay in minutes, and the image of this world is turned upside down. We are faced with a ruined world lacking values and where adults quote long passages from the Larousse Encyclopedia. They all speak at once and behave like children. We are not surprised that Victor plays at riding horses with General Louségur who was invited for dinner; that parents give vent to their sexual desires and cheat on each other in front of their children; that it's Ida, a lady who accidentally wanders off and breaks wind, who induces real emotions in Victor; that everybody becomes confused after her departure; that human behavior is unpredictable; and that the functioning of language contradicts the rules of the common wit. Everything suggests the trademark of surrealism: that life in fact is just a dream, a hallucination, hypnosis.