'Why do people emigrate from Hungary to Norway? It is one of the questions to which the answer comes, as we sit through a ’Norwegian language class’. The class is held by dramaturge and Norwegian language teacher Soma Boronkay. The performance lasts as long as a language lesson would, and what we hear is also pretty much what one would expect the teacher to say in a first lesson. Besides, we can also learn about the problems of those, mostly Hungarian nurses, who are currently planning to leave Hungary for economic and political reasons. In this way the show also discusses the modern-age Hungarian exodus using a genre that could be best described as a lecture performance. It investigates questions such as: where lies the borderline between a language lesson and a theatre performance? Especially as, in Hungary, we usually accept the performance in the context of the theatre building itself, and not that of a classroom. Norwegian for Beginners is a masterpiece, based on Boronkay’s doctoral thesis, which he wrote about the international trends in documentarism. It is an approach that this performance also aims to promulgate.' Noémi Herczog, curator

CREDITS

Cast, creative team: Soma Boronkay

SOMA BORONKAY

Soma Boronkay (1987) is a writer, dramaturg, translator and performer. He studied Scandinavian studies and Theater dramaturgy in Budapest and got his DLA at the University for Film and Theater in 2019. His major research field is documentary theatre, which he promotes to make it widely recognized within the Hungarian theater scene. He made several documentary theatre productions in Hungary (Call girl, 2019; Ítél a nép, 2018; Norwegian for beginners, 2017; Norwegian dream, 2015). Norwegian for beginners is his first solo performance.

As a dramaturg he worked with Tamás Ascher, Vegard Vinge/Ida Müller and from 2015 he has worked regularly with Kornél Mundruczó. He was awarded the prize for the Best writer and dramaturg’s work with Kata Wéber in 2017 for Imitation of Life (Proton Theater) at the biggest Hungarian theatre festival (POSZT).

Soma Boronkay translates from German (Bertolt Brecht: The Messingkauf Dialogues) Norwegian (Henrik Ibsen: Ghosts, Hedda Gabler) and Danish (Thomas Vinterberg-Mogens Rukov: The Commune).