FringeNYC 2013: Talking with Angels: Budapest 1943

Review by Carissa Cordes · August 17, 2013

Talking with Angels: Budapest 1943, comes from an actual account of four friends in Budapest, Hungary during the German occupation. The story opens before the occupation when Hungary is still considered a neutral country in the war, similar to Switzerland. The story centers on Gitta and her Jewish friends Hannah Dallos, Lili Strausz and Joseph Kruetzer. At some point while the friends are hanging out one Friday night, an angel appears to them.

Every week thereafter one to four angels appear to the friends imparting philosophy and theorems on science and religion. The angles appear during the occupation. The angels continue to appear after Joseph is sent to a labor camp and when Gitta is later recruited to run a work house protecting Jewish women and children, including her friends.  The angels appear until Gitta is separated from Hannah and Lili.

Shelly Mitchell adapted the book, of the same title, and watched many videos of Gitta presenting her story. Mitchell performs the piece as the elderly Gitta, and performs the four angels in 14 conversations. Mitchell briefly plays the younger Gitta in the second act. What is being performed is more of a presentation of the angels’ words and less a play about the friends experiencing the angels. This presentation style has an alienating affect. The most engaging part of the piece is the second part of the second act because Mitchell is in present tense, performing strong actions; it was interesting to watch because Mitchell is fighting the obstacle of being elderly with her energy. 

Otherwise the piece moves very slowly. The angel conversations are definitely interesting to think about, but the angel conversations are not about the story.  The audience does not get to see how the angels affect the friends. We are only briefly told in third person past tense once or twice. The conversations just happen in the appropriate part of the timeline in the piece. In the presentation there is such a huge dichotomy in energy between the elderly Gitta and the angels that some of the transformations are jarring.

The set is three blocks arranged on stage like a triangle. Upstage center has a cross, downstage right has a menorah and downstage left a glass of water. Mitchell stays in between center stage and stage left for 99.9 percent of the show. The cross is referenced once but not touched. The menorah is referenced and has a suggested ceremonial lighting. What is odd is projections are used to highlight some angel sayings, show some photos, but the projector could have been used to a greater degree by projecting these powerful symbols.

Ultimately, it is a tricky balance to undertake source material of this magnitude. It’s tricky because the material needs to be used to create something dramatic and interesting to watch, but straying too far from the material may mean creating something unintentional. On the other hand, staying so rigid in the material given may not be interesting to watch. While this piece has been performed approximately 300 times I really hope Mitchel and director Robin Fontaine continue working towards a better balance.