Frankenstein-project

"The creator’s pride: the creation is pretentious,
but it might be greater than the creative gesture itself."

The central issue in Frankenstein-project is what people, who are different, are allowed or not allowed to do in a world where we, the majority determine what being different means in respect of our daily interests, our social standing, our successes and our failures. In a painful and particularly realistic way the play shows us the mechanism which gives birth to our different aversions.

The normality can't obtain its rational meaning without aberrations, so that it creates consequently their own demons, nightmares, monsters, abnormalities and deviant figures in order to be able to determine oneself in accordance with something. When separation occures, the normality encounter with its aberrations and is forming a judgement: it is no more my task. I don't take responsibility for it. It's out of my competence and my scale of values! In your life you just rarely meet these monsters, criminals, cripples and deviants because the separation happenes on social and individual level. The "persona non grata"-s are kept closed in institutions, in the deepest subconscious of the individuals by the society.

The main point of the Frankenstein is such a revolt (the monster is rioting with its one existence), which opens the carefully closed locks and confronts us with the fact, that our normality is very incidental and it is standing on unstable bases, as a matter of fact on the principles of the majority. The confrontation, the appearance of the monster itself is real and human and tips out everything from its own system, as it draws attention with on how we make our judgements. We always have to confront the fact, that we are not similar to the monster but to everybody else. "The monster, the deviant, the someone" is invidious free, because he is not paying attention to the world and doesn't care about our limits. We are jealous of his freedom, because we can not and don’t want to integrate him - our fear is much bigger and our cowardice is much deeper - that's why we simply eliminate him.

Kornél Mundruczó, the director of the play: "I think the essence of becoming imbued with fascism in a philosophical aspect is the mixture of envy and fear. My intention is for the audience to experience this process in a very realistic way. The purpose would be for the question to arise not on an intellectual level, since there we have all the correct answers ready. Instead, out of curiosity filled with surprise and through the denial of the monster, we should be able to confront the fact, that we are much rather the barmaids or contai­ner-dealers than the different, special individuals, the "other people"." 

"Minimal realism and above all absurd, as though a young Harold Pinter had written it."  (The British Theatre Guide - England)

"The Hungarian Proton Theatre performs its piece in a container. Frankenstein-project is a cavalcade of genres: political tale, melodrama, bloody crime story, movie-within-theatre (…) where experiencing the unexpected triumphs above all." (Libération - France)

"Sitting in the metal box container, we automatically become part of the performance, like a thief committing a robbery who suddenly finds himself in the middle of a family crisis." (Academie voor Drama - The Netherlands)

"But what is all this? Reality program? Installation? The answer: a fictional story where, in the blink of an eye, a seemingly everyday social drama becomes a bloody crime story." (Menų faktūra - Lithuania)

"Frustration creates aggression. Aggression leads to murder. At the end, all is soaked in blood. (…) Kornél Mundruczó depicts the social and human relationships of a closed world with the means of theatricality. In the performance – which is quite unusual in the theatre – the actors have a chance to express their opinions as well." (Dnevnik - Slovenia)

"The unusual story of Frankenstein-project, directed by Hungarian Kornél Mundruczó, is brought to life by a handful of actors. Their acting makes the play’s story perfectly believable." (theatercentraal.nl - The Netherlands)

"The space inside the metal box container, with an atmosphere both realistic and symbolic, is ruled by the owner of the buffet, Lili Monori. Her acting is simply fantastic! She is an unusual actress. Like a proletariat emerging from an ancient tragedy, she stands onstage numb, as a real phenomenon, as though dreamt up by Brecht or Fassbinder. (…) The performance is characterised by strong images and an accelerating pace, as the plot gradually elevates from realism to the fantastic description of a profane and ancient myth concerning the creation of a human being." (Wiener Zeitung - Austria)

"The set is simply perfect: microwave oven, picture of the Virgin Mary, disco lights and an empty aquarium – all this among messy beds and broken chairs. The performance of the Proton Theatre (…) takes place in a metal box container where insanity truly resides. (…) On site, there is an audition taking place. An easy-going, but a rather cynical film director is choosing actors for his would-be horror film. The style of the actor in the role of the film director (Roland Rába) resembles that of Dieter Bohlen, searching for future stars in the TV talent competition show Megastar. (…) Tumult, arrest, snatches of broken lives and what remains: bleak misery. (…) Kornél Mundruczó has an amazing sense for mingling the genres of performance, comedy and naturalism so that these elements create a multi-layered parable reflecting the present." (Badische Neueste Nachrichten - Germany)