Eine anarchistische Zirkus-Oper

A musical theatre in a class of its own – theatre, concert, Italianità, burlesque and opera. Music is not only an illustration, but also a driving force. Does the play show the common musical culture on the way to oblivion, or is this the making of a new beginning in a totally contemporary spirit?…

»Let’s throw the old woman on the tip!« combines clown scenes with the death of the wife of a circus director. Highly political innuendo in a personified capitalism – constantly in crisis, but still surviving – jumble together with moments of medieval travelling bandsmen and the theatre of the absurd. An artistic balancing act, which the Bladder Circus has honed into a glittering diamond of innovative theatre.

Szabolcs Szöke, born in Csongrád in 1948, is the founder, inspiration, director and manager of the Hólyagcirkusz Társulat (Bladder Circus) – a thoroughbred musician and actor of the highest order. He began playing classical violin and went on to play traditional instruments that he rediscovered and new instruments that he designed himself. In 1971-81, he worked at the international »Studio K Theatre«, then later with the Makrám Ensemble and the famous Tin-Tin jazz quartet. In 1997, along with Lajos Spilák, he started the Bladder Circus – a name which goes back to the title of his first production. The group has its home in a small cellar near the Danube and has made appearances at festivals in Hungary, Venice, Potsdam and Nancy.

»Let’s throw the old woman on the tip!« is a reference to the comedy »La signora è da buttare« (»The woman to throw away«) by Dario Fo, which premièred in Milan in 1967. Dario Fo, born in San Giano on Lake Maggiore in 1926, is among the most influential Italian theatre writers of the 20th century. His political views caused him to be in constant disputes with the state and the Vatican. Among his more than 70 works, »Non si paga! Non si paga!« (»We can’t pay! We won’t pay!«, 1974) and »Coppia aperta« (»The open couple«, 1983) are the best known.