Based on the novel Golden Dragon by Dezső Kosztolányi

„Make me the master of education,

and I will undertake to change the world.”

Leibniz

Gaudeamus igitur (Let Us Be Merry)

Original title De breviate vitae (On the Shortness of Life)

Sárszeg
The Hungarian countryside described by Kosztolányi feels eerily familiar: schools operating according to the daily directives of the ministry, principals fearing for their positions, lord-lieutenants, everyday life dominated by wealthy entrepreneurs, offended pseudo-journalists, teacher salary scales, and a world of out-of-touch educational requirements.

The Year of Graduation
Everything still matters. Anything is still possible. The graduating students rush into life, into a world for which the past thirteen years have not prepared them, where there are no principles, and the stronger one always wins. Facing this is painful. Some do not survive it.

Antal Novák
He transforms from a well-regarded, popular teacher into a disillusioned, humiliated man. He tries to bring prosperity to Sárszeg through his work, but in the end, Sárszeg wins. No one remembers exactly what happened. Those who do, do not speak of it. There's nothing to say, life goes on.

The performance uses strong sound effects and stroboscope.