Kean

Written by Ernő Tapasztó and Attila Harsányi, based on Raymond Fitzsimons

The monodrama Kean is the result of the artistic collaboration between the already well-known duo of director Ernő Tapasztó and actor Attila Harsányi. The third production by the Tapasztó–Harsányi duo explores the loneliness of the actor.

“Harsányi performs with such intensity that it almost hurts. He acts with his liver, his teeth, his ankles, with every joint in his body. He becomes a bearded jackal, howling toward the sky while simultaneously sinking into the swamp. Every movement is an earthquake, every word a hand grenade thrown at commercial theatre.” (@tomcat)

Theatre critic Tamás Jászay, editor of the critical portal Revizor, writes of Attila Harsányi’s performance: “He rises and analyzes, explains and curses. He quotes and shifts, breaks apart and puts back together. He rushes and slows down, transforms. He becomes a whirlpool, a tornado. He sucks everything in and then spews everything back out. Because here he is hamletlearomacbethothellorichard. Yes, a machine. The machine. The actor machine.”

The play does not attempt to decipher how a person becomes an actor; rather, it shows the inner conflicts faced by someone who has lived on stage for decades, as well as the psychological struggles that emerge throughout his life.

The adaptation based on Kean’s life dispenses with traditional dramatic structure. It is a retrospective, summative, station-by-station journey through the consciousness of a genius who, having squandered himself in the manner of an artist, has fallen to the ground in the prime of his life as an old man—a reckoning with his existence.

The production was supported by the Hungarian Ministry of Human Resources.

Kean, the actor: Attila Harsányi
Composer: Pál Borsos
Set and Costume Design: Ernő Tapasztó – Attila Harsányi
Dramaturgy: Ernő Tapasztó – Attila Harsányi

Director: Ernő Tapasztó

► Recommended for audiences aged 16 and over.

► Running time: 55 minutes, without an intermission.