Domokos Szilágyi

The Book of the Elderly


Studio
RO
1h 10' without intermission

With:
Áron Dimény
Ferenc Sinkó


directed by
Mihaela Panainte
 
set and costume design
Carmencita Brojboiu
 
dramaturg
Nóra Balázs
 
choreography
Yves Marc, Enikő Györgyjakab
 
original music by
Șerban Ursachi
 
masks
Ilona Varga-Járó
 
stage manager
Pál Böjthe
Date of the opening: May 07, 2016

As he advances towards death, the old man seems to encounter things which played a role in his life. An epitaph is constructed out of the elements of life, which could be a parable about the difficulties of passing away. Besides the lines concerning death, among cherished objects, there are faces. The image, true to its real nature, represents everything he wants to leave behind with his words.
 Domokos Szilágyi
 
The poem The Book of the Elderly was written by Domokos Szilágyi and inspired by Sándor Plugor’s drawings. The poem consists of 699 numbered lines that might be regarded as 699 steps towards the great crossing, perhaps the inner walk of the individual who, reaching the end of his life, prepares to go further.
The atmosphere of the poem is amazingly dream-like, and we tried to create this precisely in the performance. The dream-like spaces, the stages before falling asleep, the randomness, madness are those components of the poem that most moved our imagination.
 Mihaela Panainte