The Magic of Theatre on Children’s Day: The Auckland Lúdas Matyi Performance

On Sunday, May 25th, in celebration of Children’s Day, the play Lúdas Matyi was performed with the participation of members of the Auckland Hungarian community.

Rehearsals began in April, when we met once a week online; during that period, we primarily worked on writing the script. Since I was still unfamiliar with most of the community members and their previous stories, I decided that instead of sticking to the original Lúdas Matyi, we would create our own Auckland version.

What did that mean?I asked the team members to share funny, interesting, or unforgettable stories that were meaningful or memorable for the Hungarian community here. From these stories, we selected the best ones, and based on them, I began writing our own Lúdas Matyi. The basic plot remained the same, but the setting was relocated to the Auckland Hungarian School, where Teacher Döbrögi arrives on a motorcycle and is immediately attacked by Auckland mosquitoes.

This is how local Hungarian vendors made it into the story, along with geese who are hatching big plans: they want to persuade people to become vegetarians to avoid being eaten.

By May, we were able to rehearse in person at a team member’s home, which was the most comfortable and practical solution for everyone.

We had a total of six rehearsals to learn the script, come up with costumes, set design, music, and scenes. Everyone designed their own costume, while I selected the background music. We faced a challenge: we could only rehearse at the actual venue on the day of the performance. Luckily, the day before the premiere, we managed to borrow a theater curtain – a great help that allowed the actors to hide behind it and use it as a backstage entrance.

Many local Hungarians attended the performance, and our efforts paid off: the children giggled, the adults laughed out loud, and the audience even joined in when they threw eggs (white ping pong balls) at Döbrögi.

We were called back for two encores, thanks above all to the enthusiastic team made up of community members. While none of them are professional actors, they put in a huge amount of time, energy, and passion to bring this successful performance to life.

With this, something new and exciting began in the life of the Auckland Hungarian community: a community theatre initiative – with Lúdas Matyi as just the beginning.

CAST:

LÚDAS MATYI – Krisztián Bánfalvi

DÖBRÖGI – András Weisz-Köves

STEWARD – Hunor Csomortáni

MOTHER – Edit Horváth

GEESE – Edina Kuki, Bernadett Robotka

SOLDIERS & VENDORS – Vali Purgel, Tamás Balogh

MOSQUITO – Dóra Lenihan

NARRATOR – Diána Soós

DIRECTOR – Áron Darvasi

Áron Darvasi