/STAGE DESIGN, COSTUME/
DIRECTORS: Zita Szenteczki
TEXT: Dániel Karsai, Zita Szenteczki, Bence Bíró
PREMIERE: 2024, Hatszín Teátrum, Budapest
“A Perfect Day” is a docu-theatre project about the sudden fragility of life, the struggle with a terminal illness, and the human effort to maintain dignity and self-determination in the face of overwhelming physical and emotional limits.
“Humans live their everyday lives, and then, on an ordinary day, everything changes. A small electric discharge in the brain—and from that day on, one is no longer just someone, but the sick person. Life is suddenly called into question, and death comes frighteningly close. And the sick person fights the greatest battle of their ill life: against the illness, against the world, against their past, their present, and against themselves.
For the sick person, every day is perfect as long as the joys of life outweigh everything else. But when the time of imperfect days arrives, the thought occurs more and more often that perhaps one day it would be good to press that particular red button. Not certain whether it would be the solution—but it makes an enormous difference whether it exists at all. A possibility. A principle. A practical option.Because what remains of a human being when even pronouncing words becomes d-i-f-f-i-c-u-l-t? When one must ask for help even with the smallest things? When being trapped in one’s own body cuts one off from the possibility of a meaningful life? When vulnerability becomes u n b e a r a b l e. Whn th ar rnns ot. Whn y cn’t. Whn y cn’t. Th hmn dgn… Thn thr’s n… nthng lft bt th nclsr n th… nfrmd bdy… dspr… ss…
..
.“
Dániel Karsai (1977–2024)was a constitutional lawyer whose law firm represented cases in Strasbourg, before the Constitutional Court, and in personality and labor law proceedings. Karsai held a black belt in jujitsu, completed Hungary’s National Blue Trail twice, and stood at 5,467 meters on Annapurna. In August 2022, he was diagnosed with the incurable disease ALS. Until the end of his life, he fought for the recognition of the right to end-of-life decisions in Hungary. He lived his illness publicly, openly documenting the transformation and deterioration of his condition and publishing his thoughts in public Facebook posts in the series POST MORTEMIn 2023, viewers of RTL and readers of Magyar Hang and HVG voted him Person of the Year. Karsai died at the age of 47 on 28 September 2024.
“Making a theatre piece had been a dream of mine for a long time, because it is something beautiful and creative. But until now, I lacked the drama. Now it is here. I bring the raw material to the surface, but my collaborators will give it its final form—as long as possible with my involvement. I accept that I may not live to see the performance. I would very much like to, but in this game it is not victory that matters, but participation.”
/Dániel Karsai/
– PHOTOS BY DÁNIEL DÖMÖLKY –
English 
German