On Saturday, April 6, at 7 pm, the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj will present its first 2024 premiere: Friedrich Schiller's tragedy entitled Mary Stuart, directed by Diego de Brea, this being the Slovenian director's first collaboration with the Cluj company. Following the premiere, the next performances of the production will take place on April 7 at 7 pm and on April 17, also at 7 pm.

At the press conference preceding the premiere, András Visky, the theatre's artistic deputy director, said that Schiller's text, about two women in a world of men who are confronted with the question of whether they can preserve their own identity, has a strange topicality: "This is an important question for all of us, because we live in an overly politicized society, and the daily experience of losing ourselves is that it is impossible not to get ourselves tainted."

Diego de Brea, the director of the production, explains that he was interested in the play because it focuses on women. He added: "We deal a lot with the political environment, but behind every political story there is a very intimate drama, politics is really a poster that is sold to us, but the real story always takes place behind the scenes. What we see and perceive as politics is already the result of something. It is in fact a fabricated political trial, which we know very well from our own times, and this text talks about the fact that in autocratic regimes, if they cannot find an external enemy, they create one. In our view, this is a very personal drama, as it is actually a member of one's own family who is being sentenced. What threat one must feel to be able to execute one's own blood. The text is highly classical, in the sense that it deals with the most fundamental themes of our lives: faith, war and love.”

As to the extent to which the performance focuses on politics, the director said, "What fills you with admiration always contains a certain fear. This is what we feel. The Mona Lisa always had two poles, and this admiration always had tragic aspects. We adore her, we admire her, but at the same time we fear her. That's the feeling I want to achieve on stage, when we become small people, when we let go of our negative ambitions, when we reflect on our own fragility and everything else. I'm only interested in the human being. With a capital H. Mary Stuart is one of these figures. That's the kind of person we're looking for in life. Where are they? I ask you. These unsellable, incorruptible souls? Perhaps they are on our stage."

Diego de Brea also stated that Schiller's drama is not only a classical work that opens up issues of civilisation that are as relevant today as they were then, but also a romantic text: "The heart can create so much and nothing can stop it, especially if we are able to turn off our brain. Today, it doesn't matter whether we love, whether we have a heart, whether we are fragile, whether we are helpless, whether we cry, whether we open up, whether we admit we are broken, whether we have made a mistake. Such emotions are no longer qualitative factors in today's society. My question is what kind of world do we live in, and I would like to see these masks come off. Wearing masks is an option in life, but not on stage."

Éva Imre, the actress portraying the title role of the performance, said, "It is very touching to me to know that there can be people who fight until their last breath. Sport is a perfect example of this, where an athlete, despite going through countless physical and mental trials, picks up the boxing glove again and again. I'm particularly concerned about what that kind of faith means, because you have to have faith in it."

The production is directed and set designed by Diego de Brea, with the collaboration of Kata Gyarmati, dramaturg, and Gyopár Bocskai, costume designer. The lighting design is the work of Romeo Groza while the video design has been created by Péter Buksa. Andrea Viola is the assistant director of the production.

The role of Mary Stuart is played by Éva Imre, with Zsuzsa Tőtszegi, Ervin Szűcs, Gábor Viola, Miklós Bács, József Bíró and Balázs Bodolai in additional roles.

Tickets for the premiere of Mary Stuart and additional performances can be purchased at the theatre's box office (weekdays between 10 am and 2 pm) and online at huntheater.biletmaster.ro.