Via Negativa: MANIPULATIONS

photo: Madster

Asking someone to kill his own son is a horrible game to verify the faith. Abraham was ready to pay the price, he trusted the will of GOD, and he was richly rewarded. Today we sacrifice entire national economies, which must pay absurdly high prices in order to regain the trust of imaginary financial markets. It’s the same game. Capitalism is a religion, capital demands trust and obedience. And we hope to be rewarded. After the former Hungarian prime minister publicly admitted that his government “fucked it up, not a little but a lot”, he again succeeded to gain the trust of the Hungarian PEOPLE at the following elections.

WE ALL TRADE WITH TRUST,
WE ALL NEGOTIATE FOR TRUST,
WE ALL MANIPULATE WITH TRUST.
IN THIS GAME, THERE ARE NO INNOCENT VICTIMS.

Manipulations begin with a simple question: Why? Why do we present this show? Why do we do it this way and not otherwise? Why not? The performance starts to open different situations of some potential performance, which raises the question of trust between the performance and its viewers. Is this the performance, which viewers can trust? Is the artist on stage trustworthy? This is a situation of constant negotiation.

We all trade with trust, we all negotiate for trust, we all manipulate with trust. In this game, there are no innocent victims – we all know what it is about. Trust is a weapon to fight with fear, insecurity and uncertainty of the future. Trust is the fuel of power. And this is where manipulations begin. If there is no trust, there is no trading, no bankers, no politicians, no democracy, no love, no God. NOTHING. Trust is not a question of choice. It is a matter of necessity.

Performance is a series of images and situations on manipulations with trust. Trust is a wall of questions, which is impossible to climb with rational answers. Trust is a knife between the two dancers. Trust is a flower that nobody knows how to water. Trust is a chewing gum – when it loses its flavor, spit it out and take the fresh one. Trust makes no sense unless it is constantly put to the test. It’s a game. Very old game.

Manipulations is produced by four festivals based in cities located near the borders between Hungary, Serbia and Romania: Thealter Szeged, TESZT Timisoara, Infant Novi Sad and Desire Subotica together with Via Negativa. At the opening workshop in Szeged director Bojan Jablanovec selected a group of seven performers and actors from Hungary, Serbia and Romania and over the next months we have been working in Kosztolanyi Dezső Theatre in Subotica. Final composing of the piece was done in the Hungarian State Theatre in Timisoara, where the project has been presented on May 23 as an opening performance of the TESZT Festival.

Produced by
Via Negativa (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Csiky Gergely State Hungarian Theatre / TESZT Festival (Timisoara, Romania)
MASZK Association / THEALTER Festival (Szeged, Hungary)
Kosztolányi Dezső Theatre / DESIRÉ Festival (Subotica, Serbia)
INFANT Festival (Novi Sad, Serbia)

Performers
Borisz Kucsov
Csaba Formanek
Esztella Levko
Etelka Magyari
Kriszta Szorcsik
Zsolt Imre Mátyás
Gábor Mészáros

Concept, direction & set
Bojan Jablanovec

Stage manager
András Molnos

Performed in English.

Free admission.

Reservation and information: info@bunker.si