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How WE MADE THE HUNGARIAN VERSION OF SAMUEL BECKETT’S ALL THAT FALL
Beckett, now regarded as a classic figure of the controversial trend little known by
our audience, the so-called theatre of the absurd, draws a far from idyllic picture
of old age in his world-famous radio-play. The cruelty of his realism, the sometimes
grotesque portraying of his pathetic characters, the lack of a ‘solution’ quasi-offer
the question for debate: who is at fault, who is responsible, who is deficient in love
and humanity, the world, or these egoistic, worrying, piteously fallen old people?”
We received one sizeable critical notice (on 20 January, in the journal Film,
Theatre, Music) by Andras Barta, who duly acknowledged the outstanding
quality of the author and the radio-play, and gave high praises to the
actors and the director. However, when trying to rationalize the meaning
or message, he got lost in nonsense, defining Mr Rooney as an avaricious,
heartless, perverted monster, responsible for psychologically poisoning
everybody around him, and young Jerry as the only ray of hope in the sombre
world of the play. The broadcast was quite a success among intellectuals.
Gabor even organized a listening session for the Dramaturg Section of the
Hungarian Theatre Union, followed by my lecture. This had no ambition to
fig-leaf, provided a good, thorough analysis of the text (I remember giving an
etymology of the names, Rue/Rooney, Mad/Maddy, Done/Dunne), with ample
quotations from Martin Esslin. The text may or may not have been published
— in some dozen copies — by the Hungarian Theatre Institute or in the in¬
house quarterly of Hungarian Radio and Television.
And that was that? Fortunately not. In the summer of 1969, experiments
in prose stereophony were officially started by the Drama and Technical
Departments. Varga, Janos Hamor, our sound-engineer, and myself
participated in the project with enthusiasm. Stereophony, now compulsory in
prose program recording, means a sound stage between two loudspeakers —
in contrast to sound coming out of the one point one speaker of monophony.
Ironically named “theatre of the blind” it offers definite (though not limitless)
opportunities for more modern writing and directing, or, for that matter,
performing the Greek classics that feature depth, differentiation, and
parallel plots. Experiments soon became international, thanks to favorable
meetings and conferences — and fine recordings of new radio-plays and
documentaries.
Quadrophony (a square of four speakers) followed with even more
promising results in dramaturgy (parallel, simultaneous monologues, real,
dramatically relevant movement of characters). But international sponsors
eventually withdrew from funding, in order to invest in multiple surround
sound, which — unlike radio art — brought profitable results. However, the
17 Marton Mesterhazi’s introduction to All That Fall on Hungarian Radio News, 11 January
1968.
18 Andras Barta (b. 1931) journalist, critic, translator.
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