Report to an Academy

“Report to an Academy”: To Be or Not to Be Human?

As part of the Theatre Olympics, the director Savvas Stroumpos is presenting his production, Report to an Academy, created at Zero Point Theatre, of which he is the chief director.

No matter how trends, themes, agendas and moods of society change, the focus of the study of art will always be human. After all, it is created by people for people. The message to the man is the core of the current Theatre Olympics, the slogan of which is a line from the large-scale play by Imre Madách, The Tragedy of Man: “O Man, strive on, strive on, have faith; and trust!” This keen interest in man is reflected in the rich (750 performances) program of the festival that embraced and inspired the whole of Hungary, where the fresh smell of spring is mixed with the intoxicating aroma of theatre. 

As part of the Theatre Olympics, the director Savvas Stroumpos is presenting his production, Report to an Academy, created at Zero Point Theatre, of which he is the chief director.

According to the plot the main character is Rotpeter (literally Red Peter, that’s the main color of the play – red. It is not literalism, but the color of a bleeding epoch) reads a report at a scientific conference. He tells of his personal experience of transformation and transfiguration from monkey to man. But there is no triumph of evolution here and no hymn to the fact that a less evolved being has been transformed into a being of a higher order. On the contrary, progress here is tantamount to degradation. From herd mentality to a sense of one’s own identity, the hero travels the path and in the finale he finds himself once again in the “herd of people,” merging with the crowd. This is not a path of gain, but of endless loss. You don’t need humanity to become human, you only need to copy the rituals of the human community. The monologue, divided into voices and vocal and bodily scores in the play acquires the feeling and frankness of a post-traumatic confession. The fragility of soul and body here is supported by the jaggedness of the movements of human bodies…

Find out more here.

További cikkek
A Színházi Olimpia hivatalos megnyitója - fotó: 4K Media Studio
Hungary's stages hosted the world's top theatre artists during the 10th Theatre Olympics from April 2023. The genre-rich programme attracted 200 000 viewers and put the country on the world theatre map.
Kutszegi Csaba
The diverse programme of the 10th Theatre Olympics included dance, a special genre of theatre. Among more than 40 performances were classical ballet, contemporary dance, movement art, and folk dance. We asked critic Csaba Kutszegi for his views on the performances.
Terzopulosz_interju_eorifoto-1082
The founder of the Theatre Olympics, Teodoros Terzopulos, is currently in Budapest rehearsing with the company of the National Theatre of Hungary for the production of Mother Courage and Her Children. We talked about the 10th Theatre Olympics hosted by Hungary, his relationship with tradition and audiences, and also the upcoming play.