In February, we launched the WaitingRoom Theatre Workshop, a series of weekly actor training workshops for pupils in grades 9-12. The result of this intensive work is Váróterem Projekt’s latest production, entitled The Wave. The production was directed by Levente Imecs-Magdó and Andrej Visky, and the 14 student actors are joined by actors known from previous Váróterem performances, such as Emese Erdei and Gergő Mostis, Balázs Mostis, actor of the Puck Puppet Theatre, and Gizella Kicsid, artist of the Hungarian State Theatre in Cluj. The performance is about the eternal possibility of dictatorships, dealing with important themes such as power, order, discipline, manipulation, exclusion or abuse.
The production is based on a study by Ron Jones, a history teacher from California, who in 1967 was conducting an experiment: teaching a high school class about Nazi Germany in the 1930s when the question arose as to whether those horrors could be repeated. The young people answered a resounding no. To disprove this, Jones devised a game experiment which showed that, without learning from historical examples, dictatorships can be repeated over and over again without the people involved realising what they are taking part in. At school, he created a movement called the Third Wave, which bore all the hallmarks of an autocratic regime. He had planned the game for two weeks, but after a few days the control got out of hand. By then there were nearly two hundred students in the Third Wave, and while the participants faithfully followed the strict and unprincipled rules, they began to rat on their fellow students who did not comply with the teacher. Jones became concerned for the students’ safety and stopped the experiment. It was proving too successful. The case was first turned into a youth novel and later into a film (Die Welle, 2008), which we used as the raw material for our performance, the final text, adapted for local conditions, being the work of the two directors.
Kristóf Dégi, a bumbling and burnt-out history teacher, who is nevertheless popular with students because of his easy-going nature. Instead of a course on anarchy, which he feels would be a good fit, he has to spend a week on autocracy, a subject he has neither the inclination nor the knowledge to tackle. After the introduction of certain basic disciplinary rules, a strong sense of community unexpectedly begins to develop in the students, which later leads to unforeseen consequences.
The production is designed by Gyopár Bocskai, composed by Péter Visky, videos by Tamás Bethlendi. The technical assistant is Júlia Sipos. The poster is designed by Levente Benedek.
The premiere will take place on Sunday, 23 April 2023 at 20:00 at the ZIZ – art and social area in the old synagogue on Paris Street. The next performances are scheduled for May 18, 19, 25, and June 3 and 4. Tickets are available here. Everyone is welcome!
The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Innovation under the National Talent Programme, organised by the Human Resources Support Agency. The project entitled WaitingRoom Project Theatre Classroom, funded by the National Talent Programme, is worth HUF 5 508 000 and will be implemented from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.
Other sponsors: the National Cultural Fund (NKA), the Mayor’s Office and City Council of Cluj-Napoca, Communitas Foundation.
