The Stonewatcher

Geza is an autistic twenty-five-year-old living with his mother in a small village. Everyone around him wishes him well, and his old friends even hire him to work in a quarry to give some meaning to his life. But since none of them can understand the rules of his special, closed universe, their well-intentioned actions almost destroy him.

Janos Hay’s play, partly influenced by Beckett, is written in a simple, ballad-like style, in a freshly minted language that is laced with a unique brand of humour. This version is from a literal translation by Laszlo Biro and Laszlo Upor and is part of the National Theatre’s Channels (Hungary) season of rehearsed readings performed in the Cottesloe Theatre in June 2004.