In the Grove of Forgetting is a new script under development with TimeLine Theatre in Chicago and TheatreSquared, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where playwright Robert Ford is artistic director. The Budapest English Theatre reading will be its first appearance in Europe. 

“For more than four years we’ve been developing this script—set in Budapest before and after World War II—without having set foot in Hungary. We’ve been working with American actors at theatres in Chicago and at TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, Arkansas. So we’re very excited to walk the sites where the story actually unfolds, the streets and cafes of Pest, Gellert Hill, Liszt Ferenc Akademie. And even more, we’re thrilled to collaborate with Budapest English Theatre — and see these characters realised by Hungarian actors.” – Robert Ford

Summer, 1938. The fictional Ilona Raab, a concert pianist known for her sharp wit as much as her brilliant musicianship, refuses to be ruled by fear, even as her fellow Jewish artists and academics flee Hungary. Surely Budapest is safe from the growing Nazi fervor—isn’t it? Filled with intrigue, music, and wry humour, this play is a taut emotional thriller, as a woman caught in one of history’s darkest moments fights to find a way forward.

Amy Herzberg | Sasha Wittenski | Balázs Csémy | Géza Bodor 

Consulting director for BET: Robert Cogo-Fawcett | Marketing and FOH:  Beth Spisljak | Technical and co-ordination: Izak Furstenberg