Ernesto Anaya

Las Meninas

Hungarian translation: János Antal Horváth

Studio Performance in the Main Hall
RO
14+
1h 50' without intermission

Velázquez
Ervin Szűcs
 
Infanta Margarita
Éva Imre
 
Maribárbola
Ferenc Sinkó
 
Menina 1
Gizella Kicsid
 
Menina 2
Emőke Kató
 
Choir
Andrea Vindis
Loránd Farkas
Róbert Laczkó Vass
Csaba Marosán

directed by
Andrei Măjeri
 
set design
Irina Chirilă
 
costume design
Lucian Broscățean
 
sound design
Adrian Piciorea
 
musical coordinator
Katalin Incze G.
 
illustration, prints
Ágnes Keszeg
 
director's assistant
Alpár Fogarasi
 
choreography
Attila Bordás
 
fencing
Péter Habala
 
costume assistant
Cherecheș Carmen
 
accessory
Diana Flore
 
digital prints
Westiment
 
lights
Sándor Maier
 
sound
András Makai
 
stage manager
Pál Böjthe
Date of the opening: march 29, 2019

Las Meninas by Ernesto Anaya, a play marvelously portrayed by the excellent actors of the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, speaks about the artist's condition, creating a dialogue between the Spanish Golden Age and postmodernity. In both of these “the world is an image” and “image is everything”. Originality is the main trait that characterizes the structure and mechanisms of the text.

In a historical but highly fictionalized type of society that is at its highest point before declining, the ultimate whim is the desire for immortality. A brilliant painting turns out to be the only salvation. However, the protagonist and the target of all those around, namely Diego Velázquez, perceives the respect of posterity in a different manner. He gives up his painting job (an occupation which was not considered to be an art form in that age), and chooses a more serious profession – that of the manager of the palace - and awaits years until receiving his most important order. The infanta and others wish to be immortalized in a painting that is “more beautiful than the Mona Lisa”. And thus, the two universes collide repetitively, in notes encompassing tragedy, comedy and parody alike. 

The erotic fascination experienced by the two sexually immature girls concerning the Inquisition; the somersaults of a devalued princess by way of invoking absolute absolutism, the prophecies of a transvestite dwarf, and especially the persecution complex present within the royal court, all of these provoke a domino effect of farces that lead to reigniting the genius painter’s inspiration. Blackmail, denunciation, influence peddling, ritual and magic are all employed. The directorial approach introduces unconventional casting for the characters; the play is staged in an empty space. Slaves and masters, in perpetual role changes, reflect the nuances of deformed human beings. We are in their midst, being interrogated, mirrored, challenged.

“All is death reborn. A journey towards extinction, towards the end.”

Andrei Măjeri