Tímea-Aletta Szíjártó: "They Took Me Seriously"

The premiere of Tímea-Aletta Szíjártó's drama The Case took place on the 21st of December. The drama was the winner of dráMÁzat II. drama contest, in the category Debut.

Tímea-Aletta Szíjártó graduated the Oradea Pedagogic High School, after which she studied acting in Cluj-Napoca. During her student years, she played in several plays. After graduating, she tried to get back to Oradea as an actor, but the local theatre company had no vacancies at that point, so she started working as a substitute teacher of Hungarian language and literature. Afterwards, from 2008, she became a kindergarten teacher.

It was her sister who told her about the drama contest. “I have never written a drama before, but I thought, what do I have to lose? I don't take criticism well, but I think this being my first drama, it is normal that we should find flaws in it” - she says.

The play is about everyday problems, which, in the playwright's opinion, is one of the main traits of contemporary drama. “I loke to watch people, meet them, look at them, analyse them. While writing, the most important aspect to me was the way my characters talked. I don't deny that many of the dialogues I have heard on the street, from real people. For example, when Pista is pissed at the world, I heard that at a bus station” - Tímea-Aletta Szíjártó says, addig that she was also surprised about the fact that I was taken seriously. “I didn't take it that seriously” - she says.