Time of Theatre or How We Made a Fairy Tale with Auntie Ilonka, the Wild Woman
Time of Theatre or How We Made a Fairy Tale with Auntie Ilonka, the Wild Woman

Summary/Abstract: There is human time and there is wild time. But there is also the time of love and peace and care. And there is the time when stories are born.The text describes the puppet performance for adults called Ilonka. Ileana Lăcătuș, Ilona Lakatos was a Gypsy woman who lived with her daughters and their families in a small basement flat in a small street near the Slaughterhouse in Cluj Napoca. We had known each other for more than twenty years. For me she was the archetype of the Wild Woman, the timeless, who stands on the borderline between myth and reality like La Loba. This realization led me when I decided to bring her life stories to life in a puppet show, because who could convey this story, in which life can turn into death and death into life at any moment, more aptly and authentically than a puppet? Where can you step out of time (and space too) better than in a puppet theater?Aunt Ilonka’s life stories are minority stories and universal, because they are based on the same general female roles and situations, regardless of time and geographical coordinates, culture, social background, and skin color. The puppet show for adults entitled Ilonka was co-created by Kata Palocsay, who selected the text from Csilla Könczei and Ilonka Lăcătuș’s book entitled Aunt Ilonka and directed the performance. András Hatházi, who dramatized the selection. Emese Erdei, who performed in the play. The scenery was designed and created by Kata Palocsay, Emese Erdei and Rebeka Hatházi. The stage movement was set by Enikő Györgyjakab. Dorottya Balog assisted in moving the marionette. The technical assistant of the performance was Júlia Sipos. The video projections include animated images of Gypsy artists’ works and an excerpt from the film by Csilla Könczei and Tibor Schneider, starring Ilonka Lăcătuș.

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