Today in Hungary around 1.5 million people are affected by poverty, according to official statistics every fourth child is living in a poor family.

Sociopoly is not about making a game from poverty. The emotional energy of the game is used to get the participants to go through the state of being without job, money, and resources. In the reality created by the game everybody will become poor for an hour. Everybody can make their own decisions: if they want to work illegally, if they pay their electricity bill, if they ask for a usurious loan.

If a player experiences that he/she can only choose between bad alternatives, if he/she gets a deeper understanding of how hard it is to live only on family allowance and benefits, then there is a chance that they will choose solidarity instead of intolerance.

We wish to involve high-school students in the game, who either have little or no knowledge about deep-poverty.

Parlor game and professional help: László Bass, Kata Fodor
Text: Gábor Fábián
Players/Actors: László Bass, Gábor Fábián, Anna Hay/Andrea Gerle, Bálint Jaskó/ Csaba Molnár
Dramaturg: Júlia Róbert
Scenery: Veronika Keresztesová, Móni Bujtás
International project leader: Ildikó Ságodi
Assistant: Andrea Pass
Director: Gábor Fábián

A production of Szputnyik Mentőcsónak Egység and “GYERE” Gyerekesély Egyesület.

Sponsors: SÍN Kulturális Központ (Culture Center), Open Latitudes 3. With the support of the European Union Culture Program, Polgár Krisztina Emlékalap