Liliom in Baghdad, based on the Hungarian plawright Ferenc Molnár masterpiece Liliom, is the brainchild of András Forgách, the curator of the Hungarian stand at the Prague Quadrennial. The set and props were desinged by Márton Ágh, Viola Fodor and Zsolt Khell.
Expert State Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Culture Márta Schneider stressed the importance of involving Hungarian arts in international dialogue at the opening of the stand, adding that this would contribute to a rennainsance of Hungarian theatre.
Visitors to the Hungarian stand are first fingerprinted, then assigned a number. They pass through a metal detector and are photographed, after which they must fill out a two-page visa application.
"The exhibition shows the torture travelers must endure...to enter into a different culture," says Forgách. He adds that the Hungarian stand is different from the others at the Quadrennial. "(It) is not pretty, not wonderful, it appears simple, yet it is complicated, and playfulness is its essence."
Already by the second day of the event - the Prague Quadrennial runs from June 12 until June 24 - more than 1,000 visitors had applied for visas at the stand, which was unique among the other stands.
"It became genuine theatre, nowhere else were visitors required to do so many things in order to reach the end - and everybody acts," says Forgách.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
