“I will be the first in the EgyÉletem series who doesn’t have a life,” said Eszter Csákányi, explaining that since childhood, everything significant in her life has happened within the walls of the theater. And, as evidenced by the production, that’s exactly the case – not that she doesn’t have a life, but that virtually every aspect of This proves connected to the theater.
Csákányi’s life is, in fact, full. Just as she loved the colorful, bustling, friendly, and exciting world of the Garay Square market as a child, she has cherished every other moment of her life to this day – and that exuberant joy radiates from the stage of the Örkény Theater, where she shares her story as the latest installment in the EgyÉletem series.
A Smart Life
Csákányi Eszter’s evening differs from, for example, Alexandra Borbély and Ervin Nagy or Imre Csuja’s monodramas blended with stand-up comedy, in that it takes place not at the MOM Kult, but in the artist’s home theater, and features a surprisingly rich set design (set design by Adrienn Fógel) – stairs, an armchair, a chair, a coat rack, a ballet barre, and a large projection screen serve as the backdrop for the stories.
The projection screen played a fundamental role in the evening: it represents the digitalization surrounding us, the emergence of smart everything (refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, homes, cars) and its imposition on our lives, presented with incredible humor – or rather, Eszter Csákányi’s incredible humor as she struggles with buttons and applications. In one “smart” scene, director István Znamenák also appears on the screen, playing
the role of a kind, but difficult-to-understand friend, forming a sensational duo with Csákányi.
The projector also has another function, namely to display the indispensable projection accompanying the EgyÉletem evenings (the function of Dániel Kőváry): family and stage photos, and video clips follow each other at varying speeds. We meet her parents, grandparents, and get glimpses into legendary films and performances in Kaposvár. It turns out that Eszter Csákányi’s childhood was also steeped in the magic of the stage, and how her beloved actor father, László Csákányi, both inspired and restricted that passion.
Life is a Great Adventure
But, in reality, it’s not about what happened to Eszter Csákányi, because she can deliver even the most banal and uplifting stories as if
she were simply telling them to us at a friendly gathering.
As if she were just remembering a boyfriend, a director, an unfair audition, a friendly neighbor, her father, or her grandmother, sharing a funny, sweet story, which she then performs with the appropriate mime, movement, and sometimes dance steps. Listening to her, we feel that we won’t encounter a situation so awkward that it can’t be told with humor, thus making life a great – filled with loves, friendships, theater, and films – adventure.
The performance begins with László Csákányi, who speaks about his daughter in a video clip, and then much is said about what it was like to grow up alongside the famous father. In the 1960s, for example, he was Santa Claus at Parliament, where excellent students could meet him – Eszter was not among them. A great opportunity also passed her by when she applied to the Academy of Drama and Film, but ultimately something good came of everything, because Csákányi shapes and interprets it, even though it may have been a traumatic experience at the time. For example, when she was six years classic and weighed 17 kilograms, she was taken to her first ballet lesson, and the ballet master only asked: “Why is László Csákányi bringing his bear cub?”
Friendship from a Slap
The script for EgyÉletem is written by life, but Eszter Csákányi’s stories were crafted into a witty theatrical evening by István Tasnádi, and director István Znamenák ensured that we return home with a complex theatrical experience. The producer of the series is Balázs Lévai. The basic idea – of a well-known person telling their life story – we’ve already seen with Zoltán Mucsi, Krisztián Grecsó, or Zsófi Kemény – continues to work sensationally, and seems to be reaching a new level, as it has now debuted in a theater’s repertoire, and the protagonist not only told her life story with hilarious humor, but also acted out the individual scenes:
Eszter Csákányi played an actress who is telling the story of her life.
However, this theatrical quality did not detract from the sincerity: anyone who has heard Csákányi talk about her life will uncover a good number of stories they didn’t know before, or if they did, they certainly haven’t heard them like this.
- Why she didn’t want to get married,
- why she didn’t want to have children,
- who were her loves?
- What was her relationship with her father,
- how did a huge slap lead to a friendship that continues to this day,
- how was her future decided in a doctor’s office?
Eszter Csákányi tells all this in a way that opens our chests, fills our lungs with air, and allows us to step out of the theater door more freely into the almost spring night.
(Cover image: Örkény Színház)
