Az Ilonka című bábelőadás az oral history és a kulturális emlékezet kontextusában
The Puppet Show Ilonka in the Context of Oral History and Cultural Memory

Summary/Abstract: The life story of aunt Ilonka Lakatos, a Roma woman from the village of Mera was told by herself and recorded by Csilla Könczei. The puppet show Ilonka, directed by Kata Palocsay, with the actress Emese Erdei in the lead role, is based on this interview. This paper discusses the show as a creative interpretation of this oral history source. The narration which focuses on the everyday life, as well as the props and methods of puppet theatre, enable a subjective approach of historical events, such as the Roma Holocaust or the 1989 Romanian revolution. Therefore, the show contributes to a more detailed image of the past, opposed to monolithic narrations which only present iconic events and spaces. Despite her traumatic experiences, aunt Ilonka appears as an empowered character full of vitality, because she can tell her own story, being conscious of her agency and deciding on her own how to interpret certain events. Furthermore, the paper approaches the show from the theoretical framework of cultural memory, highlighting the relevance of the interdependent relation between individual and collective memory, interpreting the objects on stage which simultaneously function as traces of the past and cultural signs, as well as discussing the dialogical process of transmitting tradition. Through aunt Ilonka’s life story, the show grants us access to a universe which is considered peripherical by the dominant discourse, although it is an organic part of processing the past and of our community’s cultural memory.

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