György Spiró

A unique collection of five contemporary plays from 21st-century Hungary, translated into English for the first time. Written by some of Hungary’s most highly prolific and commercially successful dramatic voices, these plays are being produced in their native Hungary by theatres that do not adhere to Viktor Orbán's values and offer a counterpoint to the commercial Boulevard Theatre scene of Budapest. Translator and theatre-maker Szilvi Naray champions these unheard voices through her performable and dramatically engaging translations. The plays are aimed at micro-budget productions and offer a special opportunity for students and small theatre companies alike to engage with these witty, politically irreverent plays, finally in English. Each of the selected playwrights has been in direct conflict with the Hungarian government and has been demonised by the state-controlled press. The five plays are thematically threaded together by their common use of strong leading female protagonists with an overarching theme of the family unit. Through the edited introduction the themes and feminine translation strategy discusses how the plays offer a microcosmic lens for understanding the paradox that today’s Hungary exemplifies, making this a necessary study into the world of contemporary Hungary through drama.

A unique collection of five contemporary plays from 21st-century Hungary, translated into English for the first time. Written by some of Hungary’s most highly prolific and commercially successful dramatic voices, these plays are being produced in their native Hungary by theatres that do not adhere to Viktor Orbán's values and offer a counterpoint to the commercial Boulevard Theatre scene of Budapest. Translator and theatre-maker Szilvi Naray champions these unheard voices through her performable and dramatically engaging translations. The plays are aimed at micro-budget productions and offer a special opportunity for students and small theatre companies alike to engage with these witty, politically irreverent plays, finally in English. Each of the selected playwrights has been in direct conflict with the Hungarian government and has been demonised by the state-controlled press. The five plays are thematically threaded together by their common use of strong leading female protagonists with an overarching theme of the family unit. Through the edited introduction the themes and feminine translation strategy discusses how the plays offer a microcosmic lens for understanding the paradox that today’s Hungary exemplifies, making this a necessary study into the world of contemporary Hungary through drama.

György Spiron Vankeus (Fogsag) on yhtä aikaa matka- ja kasvukertomus, tarina keisariajan Rooman ylimystön vehkeilyistä ja etuoikeuksista ja Roomasta kansojen ja uskontojen sulatuskattilana. Keisari Tiberius on vetäytynyt Capraean saarelle ja Roomassa kuohuu. Transtiberimin juutalaiskorttelissa asuvan nuoren Gaius Teodoruksen - Urin - arkea ympäröivän maailman myllerrys koskettaa vain etäältä, mutta eräänä päivänä hänen isänä ilmoittaa pojan lähtevän juutalaisen delegaation jäsenenä Jerusalemiin. Kirjanoppinut ja syrjäänvetäytyvä Uri vedetään mukaan monimutkaiseen kuvioon, jonka olemassaolosta - sen vaikuttimista ja päämääristä puhumattakaan - hänellä ei ole aavistustakaan. Alkuteos Fogsag julkaistiin Unkarissa vuonna 2005. Teoksen laajuuden vuoksi Aporia julkaisee sen kolmena niteenä, joista ensimmäinen sisältää teoksen ensimmäisen osan “Roomasta Jerusalemiin”. Osat 2 ja 3 ilmestyvät vuonna 2020.

A literary sensation in Hungary, Gyorgy Spiro's Captivity is set in the tumultuous first century A. D., between the year of Christ's death and the outbreak of the Jewish War. It follows the adventures of the feeble-bodied, bookish Uri, a young Roman Jew. Frustrated with his hapless son, Uri's father sends the young man to the Holy Land to regain the family's prestige. In Jerusalem, Uri is imprisoned by Herod and meets two thieves and (perhaps) Jesus before their crucifixion. Later he has an awakening in cosmopolitan Alexandria, and then returns home to an unexpected inheritance.

A literary sensation in Hungary, Gyorgy Spiro's Captivity is set in the tumultuous first century A. D., between the year of Christ's death and the outbreak of the Jewish War. It follows the adventures of the feeble-bodied, bookish Uri, a young Roman Jew. Frustrated with his hapless son, Uri's father sends the young man to the Holy Land to regain the family's prestige. In Jerusalem, Uri is imprisoned by Herod and meets two thieves and (perhaps) Jesus before their crucifixion. Later he has an awakening in cosmopolitan Alexandria, and then returns home to an unexpected inheritance.