Londoni Pódium Cabaret

An immersive tribute by the Hungarian Cultural Centre, London to the 1930s uniquely Budapester humour as presented in London by Hungarian Jewish émigrés a hundred years ago.

Imagine having survived a deadly plague, post-war poverty and pre-war anxiety. Deadly tyrannical ideologies are on the rise from East to West. That is right, you are in the 1930s. And your best bet is to just have a laugh at it.

The satiric exile community’s famous Londoni Pódium Cabaret comes back to stage first time since 1945 for one night only as a tribute to the legendary creators: László Békeffi, George Mikes, Mátyás Seiber, Pál Ignotus, Endre Nagy and others.

The Hungarian cabaret in London – both during and after the war – unpacks crucial aspects of the emigré experience: political readjustment within a new cultural framework; definitions of ‘Self and Other’, and the tangible impact of a newly transplanted cultural community on the British art scene.

Any resemblance with today’s happenings is entirely coincidental.

“There are no statistics about how many times the food stuck in the throats of those hundreds and hundreds who gathered by common sense, instruction, fate, intention or opportunity in wartime London when they remembered their parents, brothers and sisters who might have been massacred by the German invaders and Hungarian collaborators in that very moment; but you cannot live without eating, and everyone only does a favour to their enemy by spoiling their own appetite. The main character of the Londoni Pódium, the audience, did not do this favour to the Nazis by spoiling their own appetite for a good laugh.” (Pál Ignotus, 1945)

Experience the 1930s emigré Pódium cabaret with humorous stories and parody songs.

Doors open at 6:30pm
Showtime 7.30pm

Book your tickets here.

Cast:

Áron Kun
Szabolcs Sylas
Ryan Alexander Full
Bernadett Ostorházi
Júlia Gyulai

Pianist: Domonkos Csabay

Special thanks to:
Júlia Seiber Boyd
Ildikó Wollner
Mátyás Sárközi
Monica Bohm-Dunchan
Peter Dunbar
Robert Waterhouse

Curator:Ferenc-János Szabó

Written by George Mikes, Pál Ignotus, Frigyes Karinthy and László Békeffi

Music by Mátyás Seiber

Translated by Rachel Hideg

Directed by Judit Matyóka - Liszt Institute Hungarian Cultural Centre London

Commissioned by Máté Vincze - Liszt Institute Hungarian Cultural Centre London