A troupe of expats is bringing English-friendly theatre back to the stage with Most Budapest ('Budapest Now') on 10 October at the Fészek Művészklub. This comedy aims to depict Budapest from a foreigners’ perspective. Eleven actors from abroad reveal their experiences in adjusting to Hungarian culture, language and mentality. We sit down with former actress and founder of the Asterion Project theatre group, Čarna Kršul, who tells us how the play came about – and why Hungarians should enjoy it just as much as expats.
“There are plenty of expats living in Hungary,
but theatrical plays in English are pretty rare.” says Čarna, who has first-hand
experience living in Budapest as an expat.
Working as an actress for 20 years in
the capital, mostly appearing in English-language shows, Čarna Kršul decided to
dream big… Four years ago, she founded the Asterion Project Theatre, a
professional, multi-cultural theatre troupe, operating in English. Since
then, they can point to a repertoire of five plays, now including Most Budapest,
a show dedicated to life in Hungary’s capital.
Čarna thinks that
Most Budapest is somewhat different from other plays, less theatrical than
most of their works so far: “While other plays have a common style, language of
minimalism and the shows usually create a new unrealistic world, Most Budapest
is fundamentally different”.
This play throws different scenes and pictures of
the city at the audience, ordinary life stories which dovetail at some point
further on. Čarna compares it to today’s virtual media.
The play involves 11 actors, each from different countries, India, Mongolia and Jordan among them. Together, they bring to life this pioneering project about what life is like in Budapest and how people from different backgrounds can adjust to Hungarian culture. It springs from plenty of personal experience, which is why the actors are all foreigners.
The Asterion troupe holds an open casting every year for new actor members, but this time being a professional actor was not a must for the Most Budapest play. Having people from different cultural backgrounds, with different outlooks on life, was something which greatly inspired Čarna while directing the play.
Character matters
“I was looking for strong personalities, actual expats living in Budapest,” confesses Čarna.
After the upcoming Most Budapest show on 10 October at the Fészek Művészklub, the Asterion team will start to prepare for the performance of their next play, Square on 12 November. After that, rehearsals continue apace, as December will feature a premiere, the play Beauty making its debut.
First, though, the comedy Most Budapest aims to present the Hungarian way of life in a funny and realistic way. Čarna believes it can be just as amusing for locals as for expats, while giving foreigners a helping hand to integrate more easily in Budapest…
Event information
Most Budapest
Fészek Művészklub
1073 Budapest, Kertész utca 36
10 October, 7pm
