Chickenhead (Csirkefej) 38 years old

It is a tragedy, set among low-lifes on the outskirts of Budapest. Dramatic Exchange describes it as "Widely considered to be the most important Hungarian play of the last 20 years". The odd title of the play refers in the first instance to the chicken heads that an old woman feeds to her cat. However, it can also be taken to refer more broadly to the obtuse behaviour of the main characters in the play. The play is an odd mixture of pathos and nihilism, written against the bleak background of Stalinist totalitarianism from which Hungary was emerging. As with much modern drama, there is no hero in the play. The only noble behaviour that one can find belongs to one of the characters in the past, when he was a child, but he is no longer as he was. The hint that what once existed might be achieved again is the only faint ray of hope in a very bleak view of the human condition.

Credits

Chickenhead Cast

Name Character
Hilda Gobbi She was 73, 75 years old when she died as Vénasszony
Károly Eperjes He was 32, now 70 years old as Közeg
Erika Bodnár She was 38, now 76 years old as Nő
Dénes Ujlaky as Törzs
Mária Ronyecz She was 42, 45 years old when she died as Előadónő

Chickenhead Crew

Name Department
György Spiró as Writer. He was 40 (now 78) years old Writing
Chickenhead poster
Chickenhead (38 years)

  • Release day: Friday, October 17, 1986