HUNGARY: Nyitott Kör`s new play on bullying: girls like that, guys like that

Evan Placey’s Girls Like That is an ensemble play exploring the pressures on young people today in the wake of advancing technology. In the UK it was specially commissioned by Birmingham Repertory Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Theatre Royal Plymouth.

When a naked photograph of schoolgirl Scarlett goes viral, rumours spread across smartphones like wildfire and her reputation becomes toxic, threatening to shatter the fragile unity of the girls she has grown up with. But how long can Scarlett remain silent? And why isn’t it the same for boys? Using music and dance sequences, and featuring shifts in time to explore the evolution of feminist consciousness, the play focuses on adolescent female friendship in the present day and its fragility in the face of societal and cultural pressures.

Nyitott Kör has translated the play to Hungarian and is currently working on adapting it to a Theatre in Education programme for 13-14 years olds, in which a relevant part of the interactions between the actor-teachers and the participants will happen through smart phones and an online application, which we specially develop in this project.

The APP will be called CYBER and models facebook, viber and instagram with fewer options in order to be integrated into the activity. The first performance will be held on 21 September 2017 in Budapest. Nyitott Kör will present the new TiE programme 17 times in this season, including two festivals; one in Budapest (IV. Classroom Theatre Festival) and one in Belgrade (Mater Terra Festival).

 

Photo: NYKE