WHO SHUTS the NIGHT
Script by Nona Ciobanu based on the film "The Night Porter"
A former Nazi officer and a woman who was once a prisoner in a concentration camp accidentally met in Vienna thirteen years after the war. Their relationship in the camp began with a rape.
Both Max and Hanna, the main characters of the performance, are prisoners of their own dark fate and history. They cannot (or maybe don’t want to) take a single step outside the walls of this prison. They need to make the past present again and again in order to cleanse, understand and punish the other – and themselves. When they are willing to look at the world through the other’s eye, a dynamic relationship develops between the two of them and they play untiringly, continuously, interchangeable roles: either the part of the victim, or the part of the oppressor.
I think that the relationship between oppressor and victim is relevant today too. It may be manifested within a family or, more broadly, throughout all of society. It is our responsibility to be aware of such abuses and how we often contribute to their preservation.
Nona Ciobanu
Hungarian Theatre of Cluj
OCTOBER 2014
directed by, costumes, music universe, light design
NONA CIOBANU
set design
NONA CIOBANU, PETER KOŠIR
videoprojection
PETER KOŠIR
photo, video for the projections
MATJAŽ WENZEL
set designer`s assistant
TIBOR TENKEI
stage manager
ÁGOTA TATÁR
Foto Gallery
Cast
Hanna
ENIKŐ GYÖRGYJAKAB
Max
GÁBOR VIOLA
The Housband
ZSOLT BOGDÁN
Voices (Kurt, Klaus, Bert)
SZŰCS ERVIN,
VÁTA LORÁND,
MAROSÁN CSABA
SS officers (videoprojection)
ORBÁN ATTILA
BOGDÁN ZSOLT
BODOLAI BALÁZS
VÁTA LORÁND
MAROSÁN CSABA
GYÖRFFY ZSOLT
Johann's Head (videoprojection)
ORBÁN ATTILA
Awards
ENIKŐ GYÖRGYJAKAB
Award for Best Actress - for the role Hanna, International Festival Fest(in) pe Bulevard, Teatrul Nottara, București
TOURS>
FEST-FDR, Timișoara (2015),
Sfântu Gheorghe (2015),
Fest(in) pe Bulevard Festival, Bucharest (2015)
Vígszínház, Budapest, Hungary (2018)
Reviews
Max and Hanna are the prisoners of their own fate, where the dimension of the executioner and that of the victim are blurred within the perception of the viewer. Neither the captain, nor the Jewish girl have any chance of escaping from within the walls of their own prison. They analyze the past again and again, trying desperately and frustratingly to find an escape route in order to purify themselves, to understand the incomprehensible, to punish each others - and themselves.
Samu Csinta
Árnyai a mélysötétből [Shadows from the Depths of Darkness],
Erdélyi Napló, December 6, 2014
An extreme situation, the conflict is also only two-sided, yet it’s a universal one. Hanna (exquisitely portrayed by Enikő Györgyjakab, originally from Sfântu Gheorghe) and Max (Gábor Viola) alternate their roles of being the opressor and the victim, where one overwhelms the other and vice-versa. By torturing each other, they try to find answers to their own questions, although they both know that: the victim’s life means nothing without the oppressor and the oppressor’s the same without the vitcim. Thus, both of them oppressed and victimized, without the intervention / exclusion of the outside world, they become puppets unable to escape the spell of this duality.
Péter Váry O.
Az éjaszakát nem lehet elzárni [The Night Can Not Be Shut], Háromszék, May 9, 2015
If anyone wants to see what dedication and sacrifice on stage looks like, they absolutely must go and see this performance. Enikő Györgyjakab and Gábor Viola will convince them that the brilliant glory of the actor hides a lot of torment.
Adrian Ţion:
Aki elzárja az éjszakát / Cel care închide noaptea trezeşte rana vinovăţiei [The One Who Shuts the Night Awakens Auilt’s Wound],
Liternet, February 2015
It is a tough performance, difficult to bear and especially difficult to play. It is, however, exemplarily interpreted by two great actors - Gábor Viola and Enikö Györgyjakab. Extraordinarily gifted artists, who are masters of their own minds and bodies. Admirably coordinated by a director whose performances in Romania - may they be played in Romanian, Hungarian, German or Yiddish speaking theatres - I will eagerly look forward to from now on.
Mircea Morariu:
O revenire [A Return], Adevărul, March 27, 2015