 Before starting a debate or moderating a debate, I've heard that there are some students whose bus is leaving in half an hour, one an hour, so I would like to address them to raise their questions if they have. As far as I've heard, they have some questions for the artist. I would like to address them to raise their questions if they have. As far as I've heard, they have some questions for the artist. I would like to address them to raise their questions if they have. As far as I've heard, they have some questions for the artist. So actually the theatre plays started from a real case, like it happened ten years ago I think, or really in Hargita, where the Roma, Hungarian people are living, like the girl committed suicide, and we heard about the real story, and everything that we created afterwards, it was fictional, but we started from the real case. The first one is here, where a lot of Hungarian people live, and a girl lives there. And from the real case, how did you become an actress? What was your initial motive? All of us, all of us. I think he refers to all of you. I always wanted to become an actress, I mean I have a really cliche story, because I'm coming from a family of Roma musicians, and there was always around people that were performing music, so I always wanted to be on stage, and I had a really boring cliche story, and I knew since 5 that I want to be an actress, and I like this purpose. How was your first performance? I mean performing for the first time, appearing on stage for the first time. Maybe Zeka Kenyanser? Tell us about the Roma. How was your first appearance on stage? The first show. I don't know, I think it was the third one. I don't know, I don't know. How was your first appearance on stage? Honestly, I don't know. I was on stage for the first time. Oh, you were on stage for the first time? Yes. In general? Emotionally. Yes. There are some emotions there, but you have to read them. Do you have a student role? Yes, I have a student role as well. I'm an examiner for two years, and I started in the second year. I don't know, I really don't know. I think I'm going to be on stage. What do you think? I think I'm going to be on stage for the first time. You're already on stage. And maybe in the second year I was on stage, because I was on stage for the first time in a year, and I was on stage for three years. How many years have you been on stage? I've been on stage for three years. And you've been on stage for three years. I think I'm going to be on stage for the first time in a year. I'm going to be on stage for three years. And you were very nervous, because you didn't understand what this word was about. But do they ask that? Do they want to become actors? Or do they want to become actors? Do they want to become actors? They like it, but the question is not for that purpose. Why aren't musical tents so... I don't know. She had a tragic story, so she didn't make it for the final. I told them that my heart is broken, and they didn't want to buy that story. I didn't have a tragic story, so I couldn't... You need a very sad story. I didn't have a sad story. I just told them my heart is broken, and my love is gone. And they were like... No, that's not true. This is the truth. You said that you didn't have a tragic story. Was that the point? Yes, because they all have a tragic story, and that's why they want to make it. And that's why I didn't have a sad story. So you were very nervous. Yes, I was very nervous. I didn't have a sad story. Again? Yes, I was very nervous. I didn't have a sad story, so I couldn't make it for the final. How did you choose Lumi Salli? Lumi Salli and the Hungarian Gypsy. How did you choose Hungarian? We didn't have the Hungarian Gypsies. This is the first song. What song was that? The Hungarian Gypsies. This is the Roma. What is the difference between Gypsy and Roma? The Hungarian Roma had their own name. What was the difference? How did these two songs happen? I think Lumi Salli was the first one. And the second song was forbidden here because of the tragic thing with the composer. It's also a sad story behind it. A real sad story behind it. And the lyrics also. I think the story was a lot of music. I think it's also like this show that we did. It's also continuing another performance that Mihella did in Liana. They were together in Pantuma and they had this line about this girl. A character is talking about this girl. The structure was very similar to this song. So we tried to continue this. Eleanor was also playing. It was like this. Mihella was a former member of Liana. I think she was the first Roma member to talk about the girl in Pantuma. And this story didn't happen on the show. It's a different story. So the structure of the story was very similar to the structure of this song. It was like this. Yes. Are you performing only in Hungary? In Hungary? No. This show is performed also in Germany. cities, also in the Roman villages. We had, we just finished a tour in the Roman villages in the communities. What are your ideas? In Germany, there are many players, but in Romania, there are many of them, and not only in the theater, there are players, but also in the Roman community. They are taking a big tour from a lot of events. They showed them to the Roman community. That's the idea. Yes, and we also performed in Hargita and Kovacna, like this area, like in Sekei, in Sekei lands, and we also had, when we performed in Georgian, I think, when in Georgian, one of Somnac's colleagues came to the show. Somnac's colleagues came to the show. And did you sit here to speak to her? Did you have any opportunity to contact her? She left us a message, and that's how we knew. After the show, she left us a message in English, because she didn't speak Romanian. So typical, yes. And she left us this message. I don't know. So I asked her if she could connect with me and she said that if she could explain what she said in the show, she would say that she doesn't speak Romanian and that she doesn't speak Romanian. And that's why she left us a message after the show, that she's a great person. And what was written in that message? It says something about Somnac, she was a good girl, she was very serious into school, she was very dedicated, and she liked to talk. I mean, only beautiful things. But was she or the Egyptian person or the Hungarian? No, it was a Hungarian... Yeah, it was a Hungarian... It was a gajo. So there was a gajo party and Somnac was the only superlative. He was a fantastic person. He loved this show so much. And he was a great teacher. He taught me so many great things. And I think it was a great experience. So you would like to know more about the company? I mean, the... How did you start the story and what are the dimensions for maintaining your work? We started in 2014 the theater company. It was me and Zeta and also Mihail. And we wanted from the beginning to have a Roma feminist theater company. We wanted to have a Roma feminist theater company so we spoke with other Roma... professional Roma actresses from Romania in order to make the company. For us, it was very important to work with professional Roma actors that before they... you know, the fact that they were Roma was not so important because actually in Romania we have a lot of Roma actors and we wanted to offer an alternate to the story-tipic view about all these story-tipic roles that usually Roma actors do to their dark skin and so on. Thank you for coming. Bye. Bye. Thanks for coming. Have a good evening. Peace. Peace. Peace. So, in 2000 we had to return to Mihail when Mihail was here and Mihail was here. What? So, they were invited for the whole thing and at the end of the day they wanted to have a Roma feminist theater company. This was a lot of... a lot of professionals and a lot of... a lot of Roma actresses asked for their help. It wasn't so important that Roma actors were there because in Romania there are a lot of Roma actors but at the end of the day they offer an alternative to the Roma culture which I think is the same in Hungary so it's a bit like the Roma that comes together and we platformer as they can and since then every year we had one or two productions so in this moment I think in our company we have more than 70 other shows so now it was the second one and we we applied for cultural funds actually we have a specific one in Romania and we also struggled with foreign funds from abroad because we work in an independent regime so it's very difficult having no support from the state to exist and to have a theater and to offer to the audience good production so we continuously apply for the money. In Hungary the Roma culture is also subject to subvention and because we have to keep ourselves up to the level of subvention we also apply for foreign funds so we have two productions so now we have seven productions and the second one was obviously more than more than the number of productions in the community may I have a question this is just for fun does it come that a male character enters feminism Mihai creating performances while directing or staging something it's very hierarchical no we understand I mean is it the source of conflict between amongst you or I asked you how does it work when the order is a very hierarchical profession and how does it come into conflict so actually it's not the power structure between us because actually all the shows that we created we created together and we also like the text we wrote it together the direct thing and everything was together it's more like our theater director we don't have this power structure and yeah I mean to be honest like at the beginning we had no money and only Mihai wanted to help us for the nation because actually for us it was very important to have professional quality and it's very bad but in Romania we have no more theater directors so we have to work with people as high because it's really important for us so there is no white sweet professional no no I mean it's like more he's under our control sometimes of course there are conflicts but not because of this power relationship you know it's because we have different opinions but I also think that the director job is seen in a wrong way like this and you know like this dictator and very autocratic and so on I mean there are different ways of being the director and actually I worked on this and for me it's also like a theoretical job I did my PhD on this so different types of directing and trying to work in different ways and I think it's important to think about this role you know and how you construct a team that functions together and it's true that in most companies you have very strong hierarchies and you can have the author you can have the producer you can have a star actress that is there are different characters that can have the lead but I think it's important how the team works together and I think it's more like a specialized way you know like who's working on the sound, who's working the lights and so on it's just a profession after all and we try to do our job as actresses, as directors I don't know for me it's not so much about how to say this faith that you have so on it's about doing your job you have a job do your job and you know everything will be fine oh sorry how are you? I'm fine I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy I'm happy The whole thing is about the garden. When they left, there was a time when they didn't even go to Romania. And who was the only one who was chosen to help them with their work? What does he say? I think it's a bad reception. He is usually in the position to be in the management department of this garden. Because I think it's a habit. You can't do that in such a way. It's a habit. You can be a producer of this garden. You can be a gardener of this garden. The management department of this garden is responsible for this. He feels that this is his job. He doesn't have to do it. Of course, there are a lot of things to do. I think there are a lot of different things to do. But this is a very important position. Actually, we also work with other theater directors, not really with Mihai. And we are really waiting for a first professional Roman director in Romania. At that moment, we are working with different non-Roman theater directors. It's important for the person to know that he is her job. As I said, this was our second show. So we work with Mihai. But we also work with other people because we want. This is our purpose, to work with different theater directors. Also to educate them. Because nobody deals with Romania like we do. So of course, even if we live together, there are so many ignorance regarding Roma people, Roma history, Roma contemporary issues. So for us, it's very important to also educate the directors. We also work with other theater directors, not just with Mihai. And these are very important. And of course, we are waiting for a Roma theater director. But he is not here yet. He is the director of different theater directors. And he is also the name of these directors. He is the first theater director to deal with this. And he is absolutely ignorant. He doesn't know and he is full of Roma. In the role of Roma theater directors, there is always the relationship between Roma identity and Roma history. These are the seven-day problems that are related to Roma today. So let's go to this room and talk about this scene. So let's try. Yeah, I'm just interested in how was the reception of this production. You told about different types of audience before. I'm not asking this in terms of if it was good or bad. I'm curious about the reaction times. Yes, please. It's amazing, but always all the audience was very enthusiastic about the play. Because everybody told us it's from the artistic point of view, the ethical point of view. It's a well done job. Acting is good. Textics is good. No, I'm very objective. So even if it was a non-Roma audience, even if it was an elite audience, because we played in the communities for children, for people who didn't see theater before. So all of them had the same reaction. It was good. They were enthusiastic. They applaud and they like it. May I go with the translation? Yes. They played in the same way. They met a lot of different types of audience. They met all of them from today. For example, in the community of Roma, they saw theater before. They did the same. The cover, the performance, the actors, the actors, the directing, they all showed up. To be honest, it's an objective interpretation. But now I'm not laughing about you, just interpreting your objectivity. I tried to be objective because I was acting teacher, actually I was Nihalas teacher, I am also a director. So her first performance and I pity she didn't mention it. No, it's not true. And I was a... Mihai mentioned that we worked together. Well, yes. So I can be objective. I also want to add that it's still very different when you perform in a theater. I also want to add that it's still very different when you perform in a village, in a courtyard or with a big group like 200 people, young people and people that come for the first time to see a theater show. And people are answering their phone, they get out, it's very loud, it's very, very loud. And actually for the last performances we did it in communities, in Roma communities with this show. And for me it was very strange tonight, it was so quiet and I couldn't hear anything. And they also perform, I mean, I'm sitting there in the back and I see they perform very different, you know, because when you are in front of a big crowd that is very loud and it's not loud because they are not interested or they're interested but they don't... They are not used to being in theater and to be silent. And they take care of the child, it's running, come, come. Yes, and it's very, and also for you acting, it's something else in a way. When you have to be loud, you have to... We have no voice after. I think he has another? Yes. Please. I trust it rapidly. And what was the difference? Because in the past you said that you had this big tour, that it was so quiet and that there was no communication. I mean, I know Hungarian too. But it's interesting because... I don't really know what I'm saying, that the reactions of the audience, what kind of people are going to say this to the audience, in this case, in the audience... I think that the aesthetic or the socialization of the audience needs to be understood. Almost everything will be understood if I'm talking about it. It's because of the fact that the audience is interested in it. So the interesting points for me in the response we gave is that there is almost no social impact factor of the reaction was mentioned. So the mentioned aspects were more aesthetic or the socialization of the audience. So my focus would be rather... What was this play provocatively? If the play was provocative in the Roma communities who are still practicing early marriage or regarding the gender roles in this way, you asked? I mean, like everywhere now, like the social... Either. It was a purpose to... the message was send your children to school. This was... No, not... Important. No. No? No. So it was... Yeah, I mean in the Roma communities, I mean we really try to avoid this patronizing, you know, style. Like we don't go to Roma communities and we say like we have a show and the purpose of this show is like to send your children to the school. Because actually we know that the problem with the Roma education is not that the parents, they don't send the children to the school. You know, it's a lot of things like poverty, like segregation, racism in the school and so on. Like even now, now started the school in September and some Roma children, they were... Their parents, they were called in order to not bring their children to the school in the first day. Because otherwise the Romanian ones, they will withdraw their children to the school. So, you know, we don't go with this patronizing attitude in the villages. So, I mean our message, you know, is more... And also this is what we try to solve now to explain the whole situation that brought her to this decision to take her life. You know, it was of course the Roma tradition, the poverty, but it was also the segregation. I mean even the character that we invented, the teacher, you know, we were inspired from an interview. But actually her real teacher gave about her, you know. Also what appeared afterwards in the papers, it was in a very racist way, putting all the guilt on the parents, you know. And no questioning about the poverty and the racism that she suffered in the school and so on. So, if you refer to this, yes, I mean yes, when we go to Roma communities, like some... There are some Roma leaders always that they try to say us like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, put focus, highlight this thing, this message, like the school, it's me, you know. But this is the real message that Sona left, you know, I am the school. So, from this point we started to create the play. And I am the school because, like, all these factors contributed to my decisions to, you know, to take my life, but not because my parents, you know. And she wrote it in Hungary. Yeah, she wrote it in Hungary because they were Hungarian speakers. Of course, there is a big difference between the school and the Roma community. So they decided that this is what it is about. So a lot of Roma leaders, when they go on tour, they try to convince them to listen, to take care of the children at school. So if this is what Sona is trying to do, this is one of the things that doesn't work in the school. In the meantime, there is poverty, segregation. And now, since the school started in September, and a lot of Roma parents called the school to not take care of their children at school, they wait for a few days. Because if they go to school the first day, then the Roma children will be transferred to another school. So these are the unexpected, unexpected, segregationist, self-treatment. And they don't want to take care of their own parentifications. What I find out is that I am the school, that's a real story that Sona herself left behind. And in the beginning, the first day, I found a story and a color story in the beginning, it comes from herself the same way. Instead, it's interesting, and I try to listen to that in the Roma community, how many Roma children don't go to school, it's too much, too much, let's say, there is a tradition, where the girls live, but the boys also live together. And the point is that it's interesting, that the specific Sonna branch of the tragedy, and that was the background story, that a lot of Roma children were missing their parents, while at least the teacher, and the one we saw in the beginning, and the girl's figure, they thought that after Sonna died, they left some parts, and they left the figure, or their motivations, that it's not their goal, that they leave the community, because she herself says, I am the school, that the school will be written at the end, but instead I will show you how many Roma children are missing their parents. And I also want to add that what was really interesting was the reaction of the teenagers from villages, and also from the city, and from what we talked to them after the performance, they really felt it was about them, because of course this is an extreme case, it's a very tragic case, but they said we have the same problems, we are dealing with the same issues like this girl, and they don't want to listen to us, like no one listens to us, like our parents don't listen, the teachers don't listen, no one... They don't get attention. Yes, and they don't care about how we feel, and this is exactly like our story, and a lot of young people were saying that, which I think is important, and also when we did this research for the performance, I think in Romania, but maybe also in Hungary, there is a huge problem with depression, and teenagers, and it's like not pay attention to it, like psychologists in schools, they don't have time to work with them, like real to do some therapy, parents don't pay attention to it, and so on. This is an issue that I think is important, but also not only the pressure, like all this pressure that teenagers have now on them, it's somehow present in this show, and I think they really understood this story, because it was also about them. I think a lot of young people have come back, but also not a lot of young people, but a lot of young people, not only young people, have come back to us, because in this story, that the attention is being paid, their problems are also affected by the teachers, and their previous researches have never come to see how bad mental health is, and how they are in Romania, and they have brought that they don't know how bad the situation is in Hungary, and so on. They have a huge pressure in their life, and they helped them to leave them to themselves, in their education, like in their family. So a lot of young people have a big meeting point, this story, because it's very important now. What is the message for these youngsters, because some of the stories, it's a tragedy, and what is the message for these youngsters, for these children who say, yes, this story is the same as my story. Do you mean the performance? Yes, the performance, and after the show, because you say they feel the same. They find themselves in the same way. Yes. Maybe you answered, because you researched this young people's depression, and so on, mostly I mean, I know the reactions of Roma young women in the communities, like I have recently the reactions in my mind, and I feel that now is a new generation that is fighting for their own voice in front of their parents, and actually many times we saw these polemics between the generation, trans-intergenerational conflict, and sometimes when you also have discussions after the performance we see that only the mothers or the women, or the women they talk, and we really put pressure on them to be also the younger to talk, and they complain a lot about all these power relationships between them and their parents because I mean, in the Roma communities all these defenses seem like this is our tradition, this is our way, this is what we do, you know? They just repeat to them the answers, this thing, and I just see young voices struggling with this or fighting against their own marriage and for fighting to not abandon the school after they get married. And I think it's also important from what I observed, it's also important for them, for teenagers, that they see a story and they cannot believe that oh, someone made this, you know? How come that they made it something like this? It means that this, the thing that I'm living and I'm feeling it's important and I'm not alone and I think that's also a relevant point, even if you don't come with a solution like to tell them in the show oh, you should do this or you should do that or we don't have these solutions but in a way, the fact that... Yeah, we are only artists and we just wanted to make a relevant show but we are not psychologists or something. It's important that these stories are presented and they feel represented, you know? And this is another issue like I think that teenagers in general they let forms of representation that are close to them nowadays and even if you have like a lot of let's say cultural production for teenagers, even like pop culture and so on, they feel that their problems are not... I mean, they cannot see them they cannot find them, you know? It's like the real issues that they are struggling with and when they find something they say, okay, it means something important that what I feel and you know, it's like this, you don't have to tell them do this or, you know? I'll turn it over quickly. What I mean is that it's very important to see that the girls today they are already there, they have to go to school, not in the past. And I think that even today, after a lecture after a lecture even the older girls want to make a statement and they are very... very... they want to bring the boys together and they don't have to keep defending themselves that this is what our tradition is and it's not the same anymore but they want to bring the boys together. Mihai Pedigas says that he asked about the choice that what do the boys do and also that it's a little bit about the image of the boys today and you can see what the boys are talking about and even then since there are not so many but some parts of it then the solution is what do the boys do because it's not a color the first goal is to express the generational problem when the boys are talking about the boys that they don't have this kind of thing that they should deal with. Thank you very much for... I want to thank you to the organizers I think they do a great job doing this festival in Hungary and thank you for inviting us and keep it keep it on keep it on