Bubbles

“This is the law of nature, papa: fathers pay their sons’ debt. … The key prerequisite of a family’s happiness is that the husband fulfil his wife’s every wish.”

A gentleman/pater familias must satisfy all the pecuniary demands of his wife and five children. Their needs include clothes, jewellery, balls, horse racing, bribes, gallant affairs… The head of the family is helpless, though he rebels against this wasteful way of life. Appearances can’t be kept up for good, bankruptcy is looming. It seems no-one is prepared to face reality. They are all preoccupied with their own dreams and selfish interests, the family is bent on spending beyond their means, and chances for a way out are waning. Slowly, things surface, everything comes to light, and the bubbles burst.

Gergely Csiky wrote the play in 1884, but the subject is timeless. Family as a source of conflict, overspending, tensions between husband and wife, children competing (mostly without a cause), girls’ chances of finding a good match, boys’ marriage opportunities… Many a familiar situation to this day – both on and off stage.

– Gergely Csiky had a knack for writing plays, he was a master of comedy, and was one of the most popular playwrights of his day. Not by accident, says Director Attila Vidnyánszky. – The public loved his mirthful pieces that poignantly ridiculed contemporary problems. Csiky wrote a whole string of such plays. Actors and actresses loved his pieces, because they were successful in them. Csiky thoroughly understood how to structure a play, how long a scene should be, how a character should enter the stage, and how they should exit with a punch. A genius of rhythm, he knew all about timing jokes. The punchline was there, the actor cracked it, and spectators laughed, chuckled, guffawed. Managers were happy to see the takings, and eager to include the next Csiky play in their repertoire.

Attila Vidnyánszky directed Bubbles in 2019 for the inauguration of Kaposvár’s renovated Gergely Csiky Theatre, and the play will be performed by the Kaposvár Company regularly at the National Theatre during the 2021/22 Season.