Manipulations

There are no innocent victims in this game

Manipulation begins with a simple question: why? Why are we putting on this show? Is this a performance the audience can trust? Is the performer on stage trustworthy? Performance is a situation of constant negotiation. Trust is a wall of questions that cannot be climbed with rational answers. Trust is a knife between two dancers. Trust is like chewing gum – when it loses its flavour, you spit it out and take a fresh one. We all negotiate with trust, we all bargain for trust, we all manipulate trust. There are no innocent victims in this game. Asking a father to kill his own son is a horrible game of biblical trust. Today we sacrifice entire economies that pay absurdly high prices for the trust of the financial markets. The same game. After the former Hungarian prime minister admitted: “We fucked it up, not a little, but a lot” – the Hungarians re-elected him as head of government. Trust is a calculably irrational price to pay for hope. Trust is the fuel of power. And that is where manipulation begins. Trust is not a matter of choice, because without trust nothing can be chosen – not God, not Capital, not Man.

Photo: Srdjan Pabllo Doroski

Photo: Srdjan Pabllo Doroski

Photo: Srdjan Pabllo Doroski

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

Manipulations

2015 • Irresolvable
Performance • 75 min

Concept, set design, direction — Bojan Jablanovec
Devised and performed by — Borisz Kucsov, Csaba Formanek, Esztella Levko, Etelka Magyari, Gábor Mészáros, Kriszta Szorcsik, Zsolt Imre Mátyás
Technical manager — András Molnos
Producer — Špela Trošt
Production — Csiky Gergely Hungarian State Theatre Timisoara, Maszk Szeged, Kosztolányi Dezső Theatre Subotica, Cultural Centre Novi Sad, Via Negativa