Following the successful performances of the Young Barbarians and Macbett in Budapest, the Cluj company will be making its debut at a different Olympic venue. In May, the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj will also present two guest performances at the 10th Theatre Olympics: Macbett (dir. Silviu Purcărete) on 3 May and the Animal Farm musical (dir. Zoltán Puskás) on 4 May, both at 7pm in the Main Hall of the Miskolc National Theatre.

“Yet in all of us lives an invisible anarchist who secretly refuses everything that comes from “up there”, though only rarely chancing upon the truth on their own. Thus are alliances opposing power born, only for the ones taking over to become oppressors themselves. And this is the central motif of Ionesco’s play as well: Macbett (Bogdán Zsolt) and Banco (Viola Gábor) rise up against Duncan (Bács Miklós), only to become the same as their hated and toppled leader.” – wrote Csaba Nánó about the Macbett 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.

This is the second time that the Animal Farm has been presented to audiences in Hungary, as in 2022 it was part of the Transylvanian Week program of the Gyula Castle Theatre Festival.

“Puskás and his co-creators, the composers, the writer and the actor create an hour and forty minutes of tension on stage, while as a result of choreographer Jakab Melinda’s work, the rhythm keeps mounting, the tempo is continual, and the dances are tailored to the actors. The performance is done by prose actors, convincingly and with respectable physical preparedness.” – wrote Judit Simon about the performance.

The Animal Farm's stage version and song lyrics were written by Róbert Lénárd, its music was composed by Dávid Klemm and Ervin Erős, and was directed by Zoltán Puskás. Choreographer Jakab Melinda, costume designer Andrea Ledenják, lighting designer Róbert Majoros and accompanist Zoltán Horváth were also part of the team that created the production.

Cast: Gábor Viola, Alpár Fogarasi, Loránd Farkas, András Buzási, Csilla Albert, Ervin Szűcs, Gizella Kicsid, Andrea Vindis, Szabolcs Balla, Anikó Pethő, Zsolt Gedő, Tamás Kiss, Róbert Laczkó Vass, Melinda Kántor, Zsuzsa Tőtszegi, Eszter Román, Éva Imre, Csilla Varga, Csaba Marosán, Andrea Kali, Ádám Balázs, Ádám Ferencz, Szilárd Gáspár-Barra, Ákos Kerekes, Áron Sárosi, Venczel Lőrincz-Szabó, Gusztáv-Tivadar Magyari, József Csiszér Jr., Viktor Dubovan, János Nagy, Norbert Szallos and Szilárd Szőcs.

Tickets for the guest performance of Macbett and the Animal Farm can be purchased at the Miskolc National Theatre box office or online at https://mnsz.hu/jegyek/online.

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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.