Hungary Pál Závada, Janka estéi (Evenings of Janka): Monodrama with Ági Gubik as Janka. Benczúr Ház Kulturális Központ, Budapest, 8.10.2026. (AK)
The novels of Pál Závada are fictional but are based on significant Hungarian historical events and processes. Závada’s material lends itself to theatrical interpretation and is truly powerful when well staged. Earlier I reported on Závada’s Egy piaci nap (A Day in the Market, click here).
Unlike A Day in the Market which examines crowd responses to events, Janka estéi (Evenings of Janka), based on the Závada novel A fényképész utókora (The Later Life of a Photographer), is a monodrama in which a single actress recalls evenings when history and the politics of the day significantly shaped her tragic life.
The performance is a tour de force for the performer: the play is a one-and-half-hour monologue in which Janka recalls the period from the 1940s to 1980s. Actress Ági Gubik gives a virtuoso performance, presenting several characters in the story. Director Ági Jókai keeps the attention by adding several recorded voices to the conversations which Janka recalls. Crucially, Jókai includes twelve girls (ages 13 and 14), students at the Budapest Slovak-language school.
The Závada novel starts in a small Slovak village in Hungary and here on the stage we have twelve girls in Slovak costumes singing and dancing at the outset of the show and staying on the stage for significant amounts of times to act as a Greek chorus. The girls’ attention and discipline are remarkable for their age as is their actual performance. They are a credit to stage director Ági Jókai.
Composer Marcell Dargay provides gripping and suitable music to the unfolding story. I am not comfortable with pre-recorded music which accompanies much of the play but the twelve girls from the Slovak school more than make up for the lack of live instrumental contributions.
Závada’s novels and subsequent plays provide deep analysis of our times but are based on Hungarian past and present. Perhaps he should move further for audiences beyond Hungary?
Agnes Kory
Featured Image: Those involved in the production of Janka estéi (Evenings of Janka)
Production:
Author – Pál Závada
Composer – Marcell Dargay
Stage director – Ági Jókai
Stage design and Costumes – Alexandra Balázsfi
Vocal coach – László Kéringer
Cast:
Janka – Ági Gubik
Students of the Budapest Slovak School