Csaba Mehes
Description:
Mime, visual comedy, theater, danceBorn in 1964 in Budapest.
After graduation in 1982, he was admitted to the studio of the Domino Mime Ensemble where he studied the basics of his profession for one year, before getting a role in the group's performance entitled Salome.
In the fall of 1983, having been already as a professional mime artist, he established the Penguin Mime Ensemble with his former teacher, Tamás Tímár. The group became famous in a short time, achieving significant success at home and abroad as well. They also established a mime studio for recruiting young talents.
In 1987 he presented the first solo mime performance, Pantomix, thus beginning his career as a solo mime artist. VSZM Community House became the host not only for his work at this time, but also for teaching mime.
In 1988 he started working with theatre Artus in Budapest. The group, led by Gábor Goda, strongly inspired his later his own productions. He started working with modern dance techniques, African dance and alternative theatre at this time, and has been using them in his creative work ever since. Together with Gábor Goda and Ildikó Mándy, he was asked to teach motion at the Academy of Dramatic and Cinematic Art in Budapest, where he worked for one year. The same year he established Palmstage with musician Tamás Sólyom, aiming at creating chamber-like children's programs of high quality.
In 1990 his second solo performance, Trouts Quintet or The Dumb Man and the Sea, as well as a shorter work entitled New Birth were staged. Since 1990 he has been living and working in Sopron.
In 1991 Turul, one of the most successful and most memorable plays of Artus was created and performed 111 times. Csaba Méhes won the title of "Best Actor" at the Cairo Festival of Experimental Theatres in 1993, then in 1999 he was chosen "Best Actor" at the 2nd Hungarian Festival of Contemporary Dance and Motion in Veszprém.
In 1992 his play entitled Fregoli (clothes-airer) was put on stage.
In 1993 he was invited to the 2nd United Slapstick Comedy Award in Frankfurt, where he won the 2nd Prize with a short version of Trouts Quintet... Thanks to this success, he got numerous invitations to Western Europe, appearing every year on the stage of some well-known Varieté Theatre in Germany. Together with the English comedy duo, Diamond & Layton, United Slapstick Show was created and they were touring all over Europe for seven years.
In 1994 he and three members of Artus participated in a three-month project in New Zealand. After creating Human Garden, a joint production with local dancers, they went on a six-week tour and led workshops in different art schools.
In October the same year he started teaching stage movement and dance at the drama school of Pet?fi Theatre in Sopron.
In 1995 he established KAS Theatre together with KAS Foundation, aiming mainly at the introduction, popularization and support of alternative theatres and contemporary art in Sopron and its neighborhood; as well as refreshing and extending the cultural life of the city's youth. KAS Theatre had five succesful years, ”International Oddball Festival”, one of the city’s most successful street-theatre festivals, which brought together many artists and attracted an enormous amount of audience in Sopron can be connected to the theatre’s activity.
As of this year he started teaching courses at the Amália Bezerédj Music Workshop held every summer at the Elek Benedek Faculty of Pedagogical College of the Western Hungarian University.
He created the formation MÉHEK (Bees) with Gábor Hargitai for mainly street performances based on African music and absurd songs.
In 1996 he presented his play entitled Robinson Torso, in which he acted with Sólyom Tamás.
He launched the Movement Theatre Workshop of KAS Theatre. The same year he joined Quintessence Early Music Ensemble as a drummer.
In 1997 he toured in Mexico with his performance Fregoli, achieving significant success among others at the International Theatre Festival of Guanajuato.
In 1998 on the major part of his work has been trips abroad. He performed with his evening-length plays all around Europe, keeping on being a popular comic artist in numerous Varieté Theatres in Germany. He had several invitations to various TV shows abroad.
In 2000 he had an episode role in the film of Miklós Jancsó "Anyád! A szúnyogok".
In 2002 he cooperated with Baltazár Theatre of Budapest, and this partnership at work has remained later, and since then he has been teaching there.
In May 2003 Alternatal Foundation charged him with organizing the Gala of their important national event The Week of Birth, which took place at the ”B” hall of the event Millenáris in Budapest.
This year the first CD of Méhek was released, containing an extended version of their album, which had come out five years before on tape.
In 2004 the formation of MÉHEK with five members was created with the participation of crew from percussion band Strokes from Sopron. From this year on this line-up of MÉHEK has been invited to Sziget festival repeatedly every year with great popularity and success.
In the automn of 2005 he moved back closer to Budapest to Pilisszentlászló. He started to work again with Artus.
He started his Bothmer gimnastics studies within the confines of the Waldorf education in Hungary, and four years later he finished and got the certificate.
He produced a contemporary dance performance with Seregi Viktória entitled Lully’s Life.
In 2006 he shot a silent film series of ten episodes initiated by tv channel Duna.
He assembled a new children’s programme the title of which was Mimóka.
He played a role in the musical entitled Dr. Bubó hallmarked by the Bolyki Brothers.
In 2007 he created a pantomime children’s programme accompanied by live music entitled Brass Cirkusz, which was the first part of a previously produced children’s programme series.
The performance entered for a competition entitled K?fal, that was invited by the New Theatre and won an award.
He began an experimental project with Ernst Süss, it was entitled Movi(e)ng Dance based on Ernst Süss’s conception.
He took part in plays ”Piroska és a farkas”, ”Farkasok társasága” and ”A farkasfalka és a lány”. All of them were new performances of Artus, and unfolded around the same well-known tale.
Méhes was invited into Canada to the world-famous gala of Just for Laughs Comedy Festival.
In 2008 his Brass Cirkusz performance received the first prize from the professional’s jury, and got the special award from the children’s jury.
He joined the activity of the annually organized Waldorf Circus Camp.
In 2009 the second Méhes - Brass in five production was completed for the invitation of the Budapest Spring Festival which offered its assistance, its title is Irány Rio! This performance won the two special awards on Frnge+ Festival, and the reestablished Thália Theatre added it to its repertoire.
In 2010 Gold Bea invited him to work together, and they created the play entitled ”Vég Veled” as fellow playwrights.
The performance won the Professional’s Prize and the Audience’s Choice Prize on the Arts And Dance Festival of Veszprém organized in 2011.
In 2011 they finished the playwriting of the children’s programme entitled ”Rézerd? lakói” with Brass in the Five quintet, which they produced cooperatively for the invitation of Jászai Mari Theatre in Tatabánya.
In January 2012 he was invited to assist in setting the choreography of Peter Schäffer's play Black Comedy in Centrál Theatre in Budapest.
...and life goes on...