Lovebirds bring robot girl to life

Dancer Katalin Lengyel plays Robot Girl in Ann-Droid at the Mayfair Theatre as part of Arts...
Dancer Katalin Lengyel plays Robot Girl in Ann-Droid at the Mayfair Theatre as part of Arts Festival Dunedin. Photo: Peter McIntosh
The story of the robot girl in Ann-Droid began with a Hungarian love affair.

Six years ago Katalin Lengyel was a dancer, Szabolcs Toth-Zs was a new media artist doing installations, graphic design and animation.

"First we fell in love," Lengyel said when asked the history of their artistic partnership.

After that they decided they had to work together to stay together.

"It’s difficult as an artist, both of us are travelling, we have to travel together."

Now the pair have travelled for the first time to Dunedin,  to  do the first performance of Ann-Droid on its New Zealand tour.

The show is for children but also the adults who bring them, Lengyel said.

She said the show was about a little robot girl who wants to be human.

She was made by "a crazy inventor", played by Toth-Zs.

"It’s like a daughter and father relationship, kind of, and also creator and creation.

"Both of them have to change in order to evolve."

The inventor believed in rules too much, while the robot girl "she doesn’t take care about the rules at all".

"It’s all about how they change and how they can work together."

The show premiered a year ago after the pair had done street shows in Hungary using live animation.

Ann-Droid was their  first indoor show.

It premiered in Hungary, and had since been performed in Ireland and Spain.

After Dunedin it will move to Wellington, Hamilton, Christchurch, Hawke’s Bay and Nelson.

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