It happens relatively often that the actors turn towards the audience and start some kind of communication with them, but it is much rarer that they also turn on the lights in the auditorium and “vote” the audience. Orlai Produkció recently introduced, But who will the dog be? this is exactly what happens in his performance.
At one point in the play, Bori Péterfy, in the role of the psychologist, walks to the edge of the stage and calls the audience from the safe semi-darkness into the light and makes them pretend. He doesn’t add that this is a “game”, as he calls the tasks that lead to bloody arguments in couple therapy, and the viewers also feel that this is about serious matters.
Scheduled third
So when Bori Péterfy called on the audience to raise their hands for those who are divorced, and then for those who are not – yet – to raise their hands, each person could decide whether or not the stranger sitting next to them would put their marital status on the nose. And the faculties swung high on both questions in large numbers, mirroring the European average, according to which 46 percent of marriages end in divorce. Another question was asked, on the basis of which those who live together without marriage had to apply – the psychologist also “reassured” them that the chances of survival of the relationship are not better in this form of existence.
This is how we started the performance, in which Doris (Dóra Szinetár) and Georg (Ferenc Pataki) sat on either side of the two therapy couches, with the psychologist sitting on an inflatable ball that protects the spine and strengthens micromuscles between them. The formula couldn’t be more banal than this: the man built his career, the woman raised the children and ran the household, and now, when the children flew out, the third, Laura (Bíró Panna Dominika), arrived as scheduled. The husband communicates with his wife confidently and even with some disdain, he is 1000% sure that he wants a divorce, while the wife desperately explains that they did not have a bad life and even the sex was good.
The sex life of jellyfish
It looks like a game played at its best, the psychologist’s “games” and homework are done by the aquarium director Georg, and he is firmly convinced that he has caught the god’s foot with the twenty-year-old female biologist who, like him, is interested in jellyfish. And Doris doesn’t even know how to stand on her own two feet, she calls her children for spiritual help, and as an art historian she tries to bring out some more creativity from herself.
In the meantime, we see their friends – Claudia (Judit Cseh) and Peter (Bálint Adorjáni) are forced to look into the mirror that the couple in crisis holds before them. In addition, we learn that the psychologist’s life is not going well, despite the yoga and tea, and Laura’s personality slowly emerges. And since – of course – it’s not about us, we can watch the actors struggle and find their way, their solution techniques and the slowly unfolding drama, receding into the dimness of the safe auditorium.
Postmodern paradigm
At this point in the performance, the audience could be asked to vote again on what the outcome of the marriage crisis will be: will they stay together, will they not stay together, and if yes (or no), then because of whom yes (or not). Another vote will not take place, but we can witness how a lumbago, a German nature film or a dying dog can affect a marriage, especially with regard to the latter’s blue ball, and what a postmodern paradigm thrown in at the right time, in the right place, can do. We see how Dóra Szinetár transforms from a housewife with glasses and matted hair into a woman who is able to start her own business and make adult decisions, even changing her wardrobe (costume: Kata Pető).
In the meantime, we can think about the relationship between the X and Z generations, the completely different way of thinking of young people – for example, me time is important to them, except when they demand the attention of others – and about the fact that a type of jellyfish can renew itself by feeding on itself. The question is whether humans are capable of this, and if not, what should be done.
The film was adapted for the stage by Gergely Zöldi, and the performance was directed by Béla Paczolay. You don’t have to expect a big explanation of the world from the performance, you can have a good laugh – mostly at ourselves.
(Cover photo: Ferenc Pataki, Bori Péterfy and Dóra Szinetár. Photo: Vera Éder)
