/ SET, COSTUME, MASKS /
DIRECTING: Zita Szenteczki
TEXT: Bence Bíró – nach Lars von Trier
PREMIERE: 2025, Radnóti Miklós Theatre, Budapest
A stage adaptation of Lars von Trier’s film that reflects patriarchal structures, otherness, and existential intimacy through a dramatic constellation of characters.
“A closed community somewhere in Europe, where men make the laws. They decide what is right and what is wrong. The task of women is to respect this world, to serve it, and to accept it unconditionally—just like the omnipotent God the men have created in their own image. This community neither forgets nor forgives. And it does not accept outsiders.
Bess has been part of this community since birth. Although everyone knows she is kind-hearted, devout, and helpful, they cannot accept her inner freedom, her impulsiveness, and the extreme intensity with which she experiences emotions. Instead, they infantilize her and regard her as mentally ill. This is precisely why Jan’s arrival causes such upheaval. It is incomprehensible to them how a healthy man could see Bess as a full human being, as a desirable woman. Moreover, the stranger who works on an oil platform is a free spirit—and therefore a threat.
Jan is fascinated by Bess’s autonomy, and Bess falls in love for the first time in her life. Boundlessly, overwhelmingly. She subordinates everything to this feeling. She has no doubts. Jan is alpha and omega. His kindness, his lightness, his openness, and the intense sexual attraction and intimacy between them are liberating for Bess. For the first time in her life, she is accepted as she is. But the honeymoon ends, and Jan must return to the oil platform. Bess collapses and begs God to bring him back to her. But this God is cruel—just like the community that created him.”
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