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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 inhouse 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. «135 +
