Opened: 2021
In English

“Fancy another cool dance piece? How about something different this time? Game changer opens up the theatrical setting and makes the audience partners in crime with three dancers in (re)creating a performance that doesn’t take place. Is it possible to have some time-out without suspending work? The creator-trio Molnár-Vadas-Vass invites us to play along in this grey zone between production and non-production, between change and stagnation, in search of a revolutionary moment. Can we make it or at least fake it together?

Game Changer is a work about/including burnout and perpetual re-starting, a self-reflection of mid-career artists from Hungary working in an era of multicrises. The piece asks the question of what we are actually doing when performing or spectating in theatre. Can art still happen on a black-box stage or are we rather just repeating ourselves? The piece is part of a process-oriented experimental collaboration between the artistic trio Molnár-Vadas-Vass. It won the Rudolf Lábán Prize for the best dance performance and the Péter Halász Prize awarded to the most progressive Hungarian pieces.” Zsuzsa Berecz, curator

CREDITS

Creators, performers: Csaba Molnár, Zsófia Tamara Vadas, Imre Vass
Co-creators: András Juhász, Máté Előd Janky, Kata Dézsi, Gábor Thury, Csenge Vass,  Márton Emil Tóth
Production Partner: Katlan Csoport
Coproduction: Trafó House of Contemporary Arts

Special thanks to Borsos Lőrinc, Czirák Ádám, Horváth Orsolya, Keresztesi Botond, Mélyi József, Pintér Gergő, Tóth Márton Emil, Ofner Gergely

REVIEWS

“The play game changer by Csaba Molnár, Zsófia Tamara Vadas and Imre Vass condensed the feeling of living in an upside-down world into a rule-bending, exuberant play. Of course, Covid is not a theme in any of the performances, but indirectly they nevertheless reflect on the state of the world, mirroring the subconscious processes that have taken place during the long hibernation of the theatres, and ask us questions that we don't even ask ourselves much: how to go on. [...] They do not rebel, although their attitude stimulates rebellion; they do not aim to entertain, but they do. There is no didactic or conversionist intention in them - although there is a criticism of culture, of the system, of the media, of consumer society, and so on, since their essential element as creators is to question and reflect - but rather something like, “if everyone here is already crazy, why should I be normal? What is the new normal anyway? Is it possible to function within a constantly changing framework and expectations? To what extent do we have to play by the rules of the game in order to avoid chaos and complete impossibility?”
Bálint Orsolya, Színház.net

“This is how the initial mischievous silliness finally evolves into a revelatory performance, a playful meditation and poetic vision of the theatre, the great common magic box in which wonder can happen. This new piece by Zsófia Tamara Vadas, Csaba Molnár and Imre Vass explores the very nature of the theatre and dance stage presence, not only that of the dancers but also that of the audience. That certain circulation between stage and auditorium, fiction and reality really starts out from the empty banalities of everyday chatter, fuelled by the spontaneity, playfulness, and humour of the three artists and enriched by the receptiveness of the audience: their unaided but increasingly intense parlor game eventually produces an airy yet association-rich world in which nothing is what it seems, yet it is not a deception or a fraud. Many thanks to the creators and their witty creative concept that also made us co-creators in the construction of a contemporary dance production, changing the game.”
András Rényi, Rudolf Lábán Prize laudation 

TOURS & FESTIVALS

2022. Bánkitó Fesztivál, Bánk, HU

Csaba Molnár, Tamara Zsófia Vadas and Imre Vass

… all graduated from the Budapest Contemporary Dance Academy, directed by Iván Angelus. They have known each other for 20 years. During this time, they have developed a close personal and professional bond. They are renowned creators and performers in the Hungarian and international dance scene. Their generation overrides and challenges hierarchical creative methods. They form a collective in a joint and individual creative spirit, supporting each other. They have been continuously following and supporting each other’s careers for ten years and have created performances in different constellations (Kitty2012- 2011, The End Is Near - 2012, Skin me - 2013, One for me, One for you - 2014, ECLIPSE - 2015, Taking place - 2016, Deeper - 2018, Game Changer - 2021, Game Changer 2 - The day of the axe - 2022).

“As individual creators, we did not opt to form a company. We see each other as a community of creators where everybody is free to create individual projects and develop their voice, at the same time cultivating and keeping together a collective approach and each other's artistic and human development. We are creators who love to reflect on ourselves and each other, looking for new models, formats, and methods to live the freedom of creation, to search for and cross the boundaries of dance and performance art, or even to rediscover traditions.” 

CONTACT

Brigitta Kovács 
bkovacs.theatre@gmail.com
+36.30.656.0419

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SUPPORTERS

The Municipality of Budapest, Füge Productions, Staféta, National Cultural Fund, Ministry of Human Capacities, Art Quarter Budapest.

The production was realised in the framework of the Staféta program of the Municipality of Budapest.