In April the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj will present two guest shows at the 10th Theatre Olympics: between 19-22 April the production Young Barbarians (directed by Attila Vidnyánszky Jr.) will be performed four times at the Gobbi Hilda Hall of the National Theatre in Budapest, starting at 7 pm each night. The production is also part of the program of the IX Madách International Theatre Encounter (MITEM).
On Thursday, April 27, at 7 pm, the audience will be able to see Eugène Ionesco's absurdist drama Macbett, directed by Silviu Purcărete, at Vígszínház.
This is not the first time that the Cluj theatre has participated at this prestigious event, as it was a guest at the 2019 Theatre Olympics in St. Petersburg with its production of Rosmersholm (dir. Andriy Zholdak).
After the April performances, the National Theatre of Miskolc will host the productions of Macbett and Animal Farm. The Theatre Olympics will conclude with the multilingual co-production Prometheus'22, which will be performed first in Budapest at the Thália Theatre and then at the Gyula Castle Theatre in June.
The Theatre Olympics is a theatre event created in Greece in 1995 in the spirit of tradition and modernity, in the spirit of the ancient Olympics. The founders were renowned directors and playwrights from Greece, Japan, the USA, Spain, England, Russia, Germany and Brazil. From time to time, one of the largest and most prestigious events in world theatre finds a home in a particular city or country. Over the last two decades, the itinerant International Festival has been held in Delphoi (Greece), Shizuoka (Japan), Moscow (Russia), Istanbul (Turkey), Seoul (South Korea), Beijing (China), Wroclaw (Poland), New Delhi (India) and St Petersburg (Russia). The 2023 Hungarian Olympics will be the 10th edition in the history of the Theatre Olympics.
The play is inspired by the lives of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, and is based on a text by Miklós H. Vecsei and improvisations by the creative team, directed, by Attila Vidnyánszky Jr. in co-production with the Gyula Castle Theatre.
“Vidnyánszky Jr. and his team's work is like an unbreakable walnut: underneath the infinitely rich layers of thought, style, language and music, you discover new layers, while the sparkling exterior is immensely amusing and entertaining. There are many nuances to this intellectual firework display, sparkling symphony, stage existence that is exhilarating and meditative all at once, all embedded in the grotesque. Rapid scene changes, small sketches, scene fragments follow one another at a tremendous pace, and then suddenly we slow down, the silence of meditation sets in, history is also heard, and the play may slip into cinematic horror or a grotesque blunder.” – wrote Dezső Kovács about the performance.
Éva Imre was nominated for the 2022 Best Actress in a Leading Role Award by the Romanian Theatre Association (UNITER) for her portrayal of Barbarian B.. Éva Imre's performance in Young Barbarians has already been recognized by the Artistic and Social Advisory Board of Gyula Castle Theatre, who awarded her the Lajos Őze Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts for her original and complex portrayal of Béla Bartók.
The two main characters of the performance are portrayed by Éva Imre and Ervin Szűcs, with additional roles being played by Csilla Albert, Balázs Bodolai, Loránd Farkas, Zsolt Gedő, Zsuzsa Tőtszegi and Lóránd Váta; four young folk dancers are also included in the play: Katalin-Bíborka András, Ágnes Lakatos, Nimród-Károly Kacsó and Hunor Vincze-Pistuka.
A special feature of the Young Barbarians is the live accompaniment and performance by the Tokos Band: Csongor Attila Tókos, Albert Vajas, Gyula Bálint Szép, Kristóf Szakács, Zsombor Bálint.
The creative team also includes: Csaba Csíki (set designer), Zsuzsanna Cs. Kiss (costume designer), Dávid Mester (musical director), István Berecz (choreographer) as well as Emőke Veres (assistant director).
Tickets for the Budapest performances of Young Barbarians are already sold out, while the next performance of Young Barbarians in Cluj-Napoca will be on Sunday, May 14, at 7 pm.
The production of Macbett, directed by Silviu Purcărete, will have its fourth festival appearance at the Theatre Olympics, having already been seen by Romanian audiences at the 32nd National Theatre Festival, the 13th International Shakespeare Theatre Festival in Craiova and the 8th Interferences International Theatre Festival. The production has also been nominated for the Best Performance Award by the 2021 UNITER selection jury.
“Led by Silviu Purcărete's masterful baton, the actors fully succeed in creating that distancing effect in which the viewer's consciousness is divided between horror of the subject and laughter, so that the story of the massacre becomes bearable, but the discomfort remains, inviting reflection.” - stated Eugenia Sarvari about the performance.
The performance was directed by Silviu Purcărete, the production’s creative team including set designer Helmut Stürmer, costume designer Lia Manțoc, composer Vasile Șirli, playwright András Visky, assistant to the playwright Kata Demeter, accompanist Péter Kolcsár, and assistant to the costume designer Bogdan Dobre. The title role is portrayed by Zsolt Bogdán, while the cast of the production is made up of: Gábor Viola, Miklós Bács, Andrea Vindis, Áron Dimény, Lóránd Váta, József Bíró, Melinda Kántor, Anikó Pethő, Eszter Román, Szabolcs Balla, Balázs Bodolai, András Buzási, Zsolt Gedő, Tamás Kiss, and Csaba Marosán.
Tickets for the guest performance of Macbett in Budapest can be purchased at the Vígszínház box office (daily between 11 am and 7 pm) or online at vigszinhaz.jegy.hu.