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ENDRE MARTON: STUDENTS OF VIENNA, 1949 described as “a serious striving for quality” and “outstanding ambition”,” i.e. the rendering of characters and situations more realistic, was mainly Marton’s achievement. They also stressed that the mise-en-scéne “freshly brings human closeness to the ancient territory of droll musical comedies”. Although instead of “the stereotypes of operettas in Pest” Marton’s team created new ones (with reactionists unarmed by the masses), the press considered the performance to be a demonstration of “real, living people”, speaking to the present “in the voice of operetta”.” According to the self-assessment of theatre people, it was not “socialist realism” yet, only “the cultivation of revolutionary traditions”, but the performance may have been more realistic than usual, due to its utmost coordination.” Playing operettas meant the application of countless conventions at the time, which were largely abolished in the next decade. Actors may have arrived at the rehearsals of Students of Vienna with their “well-established manners”,”” which Marton could only sift through. Margit Gaspar remembered the positive tension, which vibrated in the rehearsals between the actors with prestigious stage experience and the new manager and the new director watching them with the expectation of a new style of acting.”* Actors were rather confused for a while, but they were reassured by their roles, their songs and the lyrics as well as by Marton’s way of working. The fact that the mise-en-scéne is mentioned only succinctly (only with a few adjectives) in the reviews can be explained by this reassurance: actors used proven recipes and Marton adjusted their individual performance. Adjustment was also needed because speech dominated the performance instead of singing. Compared to the length of the play, there were relatively few numbers: an overture, 3 solos, 3 duets, 1 quintet, 1 combination of solo and choir and 3 finales. The “flamboyant dialogues” and the “complicated and expected taste. This kind of work was useful. Marton learned to work with actors within a school.” Péter Léner: Pista bácsi, Tanár úr, Karcsi. Színházi arcképek (Egri István, Marton Endre, Kazimir Károly), Budapest, Corvina, 2015, 107-108 and 109. 73 (L.J): , Bécsi diákok", 6. A Ibid. 75 Ibid. Speech by Gyorgy Szirtes at a meeting of the company in 1959, on the 10th anniversary of the nationalization of theatres. Typed manuscript, 2. Location: Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute, 1.70.2011. Banos: A színigazgató, 38. Cf. “I'll never forget those rehearsals. There were great artists on stage: [Hanna] Honthy, Teri Fejes, Maria Mezei, Andor Ajtay, Tivadar Bilicsi, [...] Kalman Latabar. We, the new leaders of the theater were sitting in the front rows. Tension was almost unbearable. I often said that we should thank the orchestral pit to separate us from the stage, like visitors are separated from lions in a zoo... [...] But we laughed a lot during this unusual creation of a performance and the ‘lions’ were having fun with us, understanding and helping us soon. I loved them and they sensed it. I don’t think it’s possible to form a powerful ensemble without a common intellectual and emotional basis.” Ibid., 16-17. +. 33°
