Photo: Dusa Gábor

Premier: 2008. May 16.

Recycling, are we?

Better love it like it is.

A fumbling-tumbling dance commando in the belly of the city.

Who’s that eyesore messing with your trash?

Must be your uncanny trashman.

You Trash! focuses on the topic of waste, this unwelcome by-product of the consumer society. The show comprises a series of hilarious and outrageous routines performed by members of a “commando” turning up in various corners of a public space, provoking passers-by to react. Filled with humor and melancholy, You Trash! draws attention not only to the unsolved global problem of waste but also to trashed lives of people no longer needed by society. Conceived by the Hungarian designer Enikő Bodnár, the costumes and installations transform trash into works of art that serve as a powerful indictment of our day. We realize that the best portrait of a given society is painted by the trash it produces. Apart from performances in Hungary, the piece has won praise in Regensburg at the donumenta festival, the Tanzfestival Bielefeld, and the Hanna-Hanna Art Gathering in Guta, Slovakia, among other venues.

“The pseudo-propaganda lines blasted through the public address system are hilarious, even as the choreography manages to remain meticulous and the content philosophical, with the troupe working away at their anti-globalist contemporary dance statement with evidently unadulterated, sincere conviction. You would be hard pressed to find a single person in the audience whom the show does not sway to make the solemn vow to finally walk to that selective trash container in the projects, starting tomorrow.” (Sisso, Magyar Narancs)

Directed by: Réka Szabó

Performers: Ákos Dózsa, Rita Góbi, István Gőz, László Kövesdi, Dániel Szász, Zsófia Tamara Vadas

Music: Balázs Barna mix

Costume: Enikő Bodnár

Supported by: Ministry of Education and Culture Hungary, National Cultural Fund, L1 Independent Dancers’ Partnership, Marland Kft.

Click here for the recreated play.