GARACZI, LÁSZLÓ – PLAZMA
GARACZI, LÁSZLÓ – PLAZMA
Plasma
2006. Play in 1 part, prose. Characters: 3 men, 2 women)
We are in Budapest. The DJ duo of the Tuti Radio, dj Fabian and dj Mohai are hosting the show ‘Mohács Remix’. It is the beginning of April, thus they come up with different practical jokes: first they call the parents of a newborn with the news that their infant was switched at birth, and they are requested to go back to the hospital for the ‘real one’. In the meanwhile we are also notified that a person with suicidal tendencies had climbed on Szabadság bridge… In a café two friends are chatting about one of them having seen a ball lightning at his grandparents’ house as a child, at another table two girls are having a ‘guy review’ afternoon…
A society looking for its identity in a play of a distinctly unique form, showing the imprint of ‘plasma life’, where the initially loosely connected puzzle pieces align in the end and the flashing images of tragicomic fates give a snapshot of a full life.
László Garaczi was born in Budapest on 17 July 1956. He has an MA in Philosophy from ELTE University, and has been working as a freelance writer since 1982. He is known and recognized as a writer of short prose, poetry and plays. His plays are frequently staged and he has won several prizes: the József Attila Prize in 2001 and the Márai Sándor Prize in 2002. His play Veszteg won the prize for Best New Play for the 2019/2020 theatre season. His plays are characteristically postmodern in attitude and structure, which usually requires new forms in the staging, which makes these plays to be rewarding opportunities for theatre experimentation. The language of his characters give a compelling insight into a world ruled by signs and conventions, which diverts use of the dramatic language from being a traditional character-defining tool or the shape-giver of a given subjective state of mind.