Chickenhead

Story

Synopsis

It is a tragedy, set among low-lifes on the outskirts of Budapest. Dramatic Exchange describes it as "Widely considered to be the most important Hungarian play of the last 20 years". The odd title of the play refers in the first instance to the chicken heads that an old woman feeds to her cat. However, it can also be taken to refer more broadly to the obtuse behaviour of the main characters in the play. The play is an odd mixture of pathos and nihilism, written against the bleak background of Stalinist totalitarianism from which Hungary was emerging. As with much modern drama, there is no hero in the play. The only noble behaviour that one can find belongs to one of the characters in the past, when he was a child, but he is no longer as he was. The hint that what once existed might be achieved again is the only faint ray of hope in a very bleak view of the human condition.

Director

Gábor Zsámbéki

Writers

György Spiró

Language

Hungarian

Country

Hungary

Release date

17 October 1986

Ensemble

Cast

• 

  Hilda Gobbi

  Vénasszony

• Zoltán Papp

  Tanár

• 

  Erika Bodnár

  Nő

• 

  Vajda László

  Apa

• Zoltán Varga

  Srác

• 

  Vilmos Vajdai

  Haver

• 

  Dénes Ujlaki

  Törzs

• 

  Károly Eperjes

  Közeg

• 

  Mária Ronyecz

  Előadónő

• Ágnes Zsíros

  Csitri

• 

  Mari Csomós

  Anya

• Krisztina Szalai

  Bakfis