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Budapest ...> 1969 - 1972 xx> 1973 .....1974 -76

1974

March - Hölderlin’s Empedocle. Location:Dohány-utca 20, Budapest. Hölderlin's Sketch on Empedocles Death is read in German by a man and translated simultaneously into Hungarian by a woman. Three men appear at the same time as Empedocles (István Bálint, Gergely Molnár and Sándor Simon), and three women as wives of Empedocle (Marianne Kollár, Kati Örsi and Anna Koós). They perform symbolic poetic gestures while Péter Donáth plays the drums and Éva Buchmüller sings. Idea: István Bálint.

June- Guido and Tyrius. Two performances on a nearby island of Szentendre for children and adults. Players: Péter Halász (Guido, the knight in green), Éva Buchmüller (Tyrius, the knight in blue), Anna Koós (Kunigunda, Guido's bride), Péter Breznyik (the Dacian King), Judit Scherter (his daughter, the ever fainting Princess), Can Togay (the Grieving Holy Grave), Miklós Kovács and Péter Breznyik (Saracens).

August- The Jew Jokes. A solo performance by Péter Halász. Location Dohány-utca 20. Budapest. With the windows open, wind sweeps through the apartment. It is sunset. Peter tells jokes holding lit candles between each of his fingers until the last candle burns out. By then it is dark. Peter sits in an armchair. He is covered with fresh plasfer, which, starts to crack while he tells the jokes.

Péter Breznyik creates and plays the main character, a dancing soldier, in Lászlo Najmányi's film An Imperial Message.

September- Houseplays. Location: Dohány-utca 20. Budapest. Spectators: In and around the house. Various plays in a House with windows built in the apartment. Wax Museum by Péter Halász and István Bálint; Mockery of the Wax Museum by Éva Buchmüller, Anna Koós and Péter Breznyik. For one week performances from morning until evening. Mirror Talks with Marianne Kollár, Péter Breznyik and Anna Koós. In another version with Éva Buchmüller and Péter Halász. Narrator/commentator: Péter Breznyik. Framed picture: Judit Scherter. House Plays end on New Year's Eve.

And Slew the Children in Bethlehem. Location: Dohány utca 20. Budapest. In and around the “House” that was built in the apartment: Péter Breznyik (King Herod's soldier; his character was transplanted from the film An Imperial Message), Sándor Simon and Gergely Molnár (prowling soldiers), Marianne Kollár, Emő Dobos, Judit Scherter, Andrea Bősze and Éva Buchmüller (mothers with dolls), Anna Koós with Galus Halász (mother and child), and Péter Halász (singer in the House).

1975

April -Diary Theater series. Location: Dohány-utca 20. Budapest. Play on, around and under a table.

Sand Table. Location: Dohany-utca 20. Music: Bach's St. Johns Passion. Players: Éva Buchmüller, István Bálint and Péter Halász.

Anna Doing Dishes. Location: Dohány utca 20. Budapest A solo by Anna Koós with two puppets made by Éva Buchmüller.

Fishing. Location: Dohány utca 20. Budapest . Performance by István Bálint with Marianne Kollár, Péter Halász and Péter Breznyik blowing whistles.

Preface to Don Giovanni. Location: Dohány utca 20. Budapest. Play by Péter Breznyik. With Anna Koós and Marianne Kollár. The play lasts as long as it takes for Anna to read in a barely audible voice and for Breynzik to repeat line by line The Four Portuguese Letters attributed to the nun Mariana Alcoforado from the 18th century. Undressed, the two stand in the far corner of the room. Draped in Don Giovanni's red cape with a black feather collar Marianne stands guard, holding the Page's weapon. At the end of the fourth letter, she covers the couple with the cape while the Overture of Mozart's Don Giovanni plays.

The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov. Location: Dohány utca 20. Budapest Text: the abridged version of the original play limited to the lines of the three sisters. Players: Péter Halász (lrina), István Bálint (Olga), Péter Breznyik (Masha) and Anna Koás (prompter). Music: a selection of Chopin Polonaises.

May- Unattended participation in the Paris Biennale with the 16-mm film made in the sandmine in Surány smuggled out of Hungary. The catalogue publishes photographs and writings by members of the group, including a sketch of Murder in the Skanzen by Peter Halász.

Emigration negotiations with the authorities.

July- Don Giovanni von Leporello. 16-mm black-and-white film shot in and around a house in Nagymaros on the Danube. Cameraman: Gábor Dobos. Concept: Péter Breznyik, Marianne Kollár and Anna Koós as main characters. With: Péter Rácz (dwarf), Borbála Major (his adopted daughter), Péter Halász (rabbit hunter-storyteller-exhibitionist), Péter Donáth (cacophiliac), István Bálint (necrophiliac), Éva Buchmüller (the knight with four faces), Eszter Bálint (her page), Emö Dobos (fainting nun), Andrea Bösze (monkey-nun on the tree), Éva Koós (one-eyed teen-woman), Borbála Major, Rebecca Major, Gergely Nádori, Péter Nádori, Eszter Bálint, Anna Petri and Galus Halász (band of children). Editing: Anna Koós and Péter Breznyik. A dupe negative of the film is made and smuggled out of the country.

September: It Is Hard to Say Good-bye to Happiness. Location: Dohány utca 20. Budapest at a campfire in the apartment. Éva Buchmüller, Péter Halász and István Bálint.

Postscript to Don Juan. Location: Dohány utca 20. Budapest. Players: István Bálint, Marianne Kollár and Borbála Major. A man's face is covered with white and pink bird feathers, the floor is covered with sand and a tent is set up in the corner of the room. Man and wife fight without sounds, lip-reading each other's words. Man and child fence with burning swords.

November- Rebuilding the House. Various plays.

1976

January 21 -Peter Halasz, Anna Koós, Galus Halasz and Peter Breznyik leave for Paris with a one-way immigration passport. Friends, family members and spectators see them off at the airport. A few month later Stephan Bálint, Marienne Kollár, their daughter Eszter Bálint, and Éva Buchmüller with her daughters: Borbála Major and Rebecca Major leave Hungary with a French visa .


This list of plays made in Budapest, Hungary is an edited version of the compilation in the book "Squat Theatre" by Éva Buchmüller and Anna Koós, New York, 1986

Péter Breznyik (standing), Péter Halász (in the forground), Marianne  Bálint
Éva Buchmüller
Éva Buchmüller, Péter Halász and the band of children
Péter Halász
Closing scene of "Guido and Tyrius" performed on a deserted island off Szentendre
Anna Koós
Departure, Ferihegy AIRPORT, Hungary, January 1976
With friends before departure from Budapest, Ferihegy AIRPORT January 1976
With friends before departure from Budapest, FERIHEGY AIRPORT, January 1976
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