Mercenaries – Corneliu Seghedi’s Tender Touch

Hungarian Translation by: Péter Demény

Studio
RO
16+
1h 50' without intermission

Szabolcs Balla
Éva Imre
Kinga Ötvös
Miklós Bács
Anikó Pethő
Péter Árus
András Buzási

directed by
Ioana Păun
 
script
Mona Bozdog, Ioana Păun
 
set design
Ciprian Mureșan
 
costume design
Maria Guță
 
original music by
Sillyconductor (Cătălin Matei)
 
director's assistant
Róbert Kocsis
 
stage manager
Enikő Albert
 
our thanks to
Sebastian Orza, Alin Goron, Gelu Bulboaca, Paul Stoie, Septimiu Jugrestan, Noémi Vajna, Ferenc Sinkó, Lucian Chirilă
Date of the opening: 11 May, 2019

What would you prefer? Having your child fight in a war or rather make porn movies? Smile.

In 2001, immediately after the 9/11 attacks, a group of 10-year-olds are listening to their history professor's speech. Mr. Seghedi talks to them zealously about his passion for America, about the war on terror, and takes pictures of them with Rambo. But what the teacher fundamentally forgets is to explain to them what powerlessness means.

What do you choose? Money or family? Smile.

18 years later, all six children meet in the small town where they grew up. Some have money, others have power, some are blasé, traumatized, self-deceived, or have become simple people. They turn against one another until they finally destroy each other.

What do you want? To escape or stay? Smile.

Budapest, Cluj, Kandahar, Câmpia Turzii. 6 young people who - wherever they might find themselves - know only one rule: to defend yourself is to attack.

The production was conceived by an interdisciplinary team, assembled by director Ioana Păun, who researched ​​the meeting point between war and pornography through several (theatrical) languages.