And, of course, the “indispensable” clowns.

Times and sensibilities have changed. Modern circus art requires experiences that appeal to the senses. Today, as described by Péter Fekete, the director of Budapest’s Capital Circus, it is an interdisciplinary format that brings together ballet, opera, musicals, theater, orchestras, drama, and circus performers, including aerialists, jugglers, and dancers.

With Christmas approaching, Fekete has chosen one of Grimm’s classic fairytales, “Mother Hulda” (“Holle anyó” in Hungarian), to delight families at the circus. The story, which many will be familiar with, may not be new in the world of children’s theater, but it comes with its compensations.

The magic of long-awaited snowfall, brought about by Mother Hulda shaking out her featherbed, may make up for the many years without a white Christmas. In Fekete’s interpretation of the original tale, Mother Hulda’s two daughters are fundamentally different from one another.

How can the daily struggles of these incompatible teenagers be resolved through the combination of the original tale and the director’s vision? The performance explores problems far deeper than jealousy between the pretty and plain, or the everyday conflicts between a diligent daughter and a lazy sibling.

How can children acknowledge each other’s faults? How can they adapt to one another when reconciliation seems impossible? What does it mean to be a sibling, to accept another unconditionally?

Circus for all Ages

Mother Hulda faces her own challenges, too. Daily tasks must be completed, and it’s not too much of a spoiler alert to suggest that a spindle dropped into a well plays a central role in the story. This is not only a moral tale for children, but also for adults, and proves once again that the circus speaks to every generation.

The leading roles are played by a Brazilian and a Russian acrobat, with the story carried along by a three-person Hungarian clown collective known as Ho-Pi-He (the Hungarian word for “snowflake”). A cultural kaleidoscope of nationalities are assembled in the ring to tell this story: Chinese, Uzbek, German, Hungarian, Russian and Ukrainian circus artists all play their parts.

With a nod to classical circus traditions, domesticated animals help bring the story to life. The audience can see alpacas and llamas, and can even learn how a spinning wheel works. Veteran actresses Marika Oszwald and Kati Zsurzs also play an essential role in presenting this fairytale.

The “ring master” pulling all this together is Péter Fekete, a Jászai Mari Award-winning theater director, performer, circus artist, and now the director general of the National Circus Arts Center and the Capital Circus of Budapest, who says he aims to create a truly unique institution for circus art.

Between 1995 and 2002, Fekete was the head of European theater affairs at the Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. From 2007 to 2015, he was director of the Jókai Theater in Békéscsaba. Since 2015, he has been responsible for developing the national strategy for circus arts and supervising and guiding its renewal in Hungary. He was State Secretary for Culture from 2018 to 2022.

“Ticket for the performances scheduled until the end of the year have almost completely sold out,” he says.

“In January, we are preparing for the first Hungarian festival of the year, under the motto ‘Budapest, the locomotive of circus arts.’ From Jan. 7-12, 2026, the world’s attention will be on us, as the finest circus artists showcase their talents at the 16th Budapest International Circus Festival.”

More: 
fnc.hu/holle-anyo
 

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