Watermelon Republic

Katalin Erdődi (Hungary), Antje Schiffers/MyVillages (Germany), Orsolya Török-Illyés (Hungary), Kenneth Anders (Germany)

Watermelon Republic is a collaborative ‘village play’ by the curator/dramaturg Katalin Erdődi and the visual artist Antje Schiffers with a trans-disciplinary team of artists and rural communities from Hungary and Germany. The play’s point of departure is the village of Nagykamarás, a melon-farming region in Southeast Hungary that has been the site of extensive political corruption in the past years. The artists invite locals to share their perspectives on recent events, to talk about present urgencies and their visions for the future. Together they devise a collectively written performance inspired by politically engaged popular theatre, collaborative art practices and documentary approaches. They develop a revue-like format that allows for criticism and humor, exaggerating and satirical commentaries, but also for an experimental collage of different forms of expression, including moving images, choreography and music. After presentations in Hungary, the village play travels to Germany, to be re-visited in dialogue with the local community of Altranft.

Concept and artistic direction: Katalin Erdődi, Antje Schiffers | Artistic collaborators: Kenneth Anders (writer, Croustillier), Orsolya Török-Illyés (actress, Budapest), János Sallai (farmer, Nagykamarás), a.o. | Partners: Thealter Festival (Szeged), Trafó House of Contemporary Arts (Budapest), Oderbruchmuseum (Altranft) | Supported by: Allianz Kulturstiftung