#history #prejudice #Romas
131 Romas were convicted because the butcher was gone. Emerging writer-director Emília Boda-Novy stages the story of an 18th century blood libel, showing how racism and prejudices claim human lives.
In 1782, in Hont County, the disappearance of a village butcher led to the brutal massacre of the Roma population living nearby, despite the absence of the alleged victim's body. The sentences passed were based on confessions extracted through severe and inhumane torture. A total of 131 Roma were sentenced, with 41 subjected to public execution by hanging, beheading, or having their limbs broken. The remaining survivors were condemned to forced labor, while their children were taken away and placed in peasant households to serve. Cannibals stands as a poignant tribute to this harrowing chapter of history.
Trafó collaborates with Independent Theatre Hungary for NEXTFEST, a theatre collective uniting Roma and non-Roma artists, whose main goal is to start a dialogue on social issues that affect us all. They work to support disadvantaged young people, both Roma and non-Roma, in becoming successful artists, trainers, professionals of different fields and above all: active citizens. They create cutting-edge and socially engaged theater performances, so that young people of the future can find valuable and authentic works about today's society.
This performance is realized in cooperation with Independent Theatre Hungary, as part of the 5th edition of NEXTFEST, Trafó's very own mini festival, with which it celebrates new forms, emerging artists and the joy of experimentation each year. Please find the full festival programme here, most events are English-friendly!
Emília Boda-Novy (1992) actor, director, born in Tápióbicske in a mixed Hungarian-Roma family. At the age of fourteen she participated in the camp of Karavan Theatre and Arts Foundation. There she met the director Rodrigo Balogh who casted her in his performance Tollfosztás in 2010. The talented actress has performed in about forty plays, from the Ida Turay Theatre through Thalia Theater to the Independent Theatre. After Panna Cinka – The Dance of The Witch, Cannibals is her second direction.
Actors: Dávid Csányi, Nóra Nemcsók
Assistant director: András Tamás Szegedi
Dramaturg: Éva Bogya Tímea
Music: Dávid Varga
Lyrics: Kristóf Horváth
Director: Emília Boda-Novy
Producer: Rodrigó Balogh
Written by: Barnabás Boda-Novy & Emília Boda-Novy, the life and everyone else.
The project is co-financed by the Governments of the Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
