Page 118 [118]
THE DRAMA OF INCOMPLETENESS DECLARED TO BE COMPLETE
ACTING
Going beyond realist characterization, the director managed to turn the
actors’ initial resistance (to the play and to their tasks) into ensemble,
moderately passionate yet conspicuously suggestive acting. A reviewer
even referred to the “Budapest school”, which accomplished “the trends of
progressive interpretation of the drama, appearing in its Rostock production
for the first time”. The actors reported on the community-building power
of the work, that during the six weeks of rehearsals all the participants
undertook “voluntary subordination”, and even those who did not play in the
production felt mentally participating in the task since they knew that “the
present position of the National in Hungarian theatre culture was waiting to
be altered”.*®° Therefore, the goal was the creation of a “new style of acting free
from all traditions”, which (following the missionary approach of the period)
could become a guiding principle for other theatres. The Death of Marat
sought to set an example in two ways. Firstly, by bringing actors together in
an unusually disciplined way, harmonizing individual idiosyncrasies of acting
(that seemed indestructible even in the following decades)*” and making the
ensemble the center of the production.°* Secondly, by modifying the realist¬
naturalist language of acting, which proved to be inadequate alone in this
case (though it was all too well-known to actors), by the Brechtian attempts
559 Sz. Szántó: Marat és De Sade, 6.
560 Sas: Tisztázni az ember rendeltetését, 7.
561 Szombathelyi: Marat halála, 2.
562 László Vámos mentions in his 1982 program speech as artistic director of the National
Theatre that “since the death of [Endre] Gellért, there has been a lack of a director-pedagogue
who can develop the actors’ technique. [...] Thus, the young people of the National Theatre
were left alone, and the elders were doing what they had always done, and nobody told them
not to do so because of some false ‘respect’. [...] It is a real misfortune for an actor when he
gets in a position to give a role to himself, and especially when his directors and colleagues
feel that he should not be insulted by instructions. When an artist is considered ready, he
is ready indeed." Imre-Ring: Szigorúan bizalmas, 400. — According to György Cserhalmi,
when Gábor Székely and Gábor Zsámbéki favored ensemble acting in the National Theatre at
the end of the 1970s, a group of actors “resisted the directors with sabotage. [...] Not all ‘old
actors’ were clearly hostile, for example Gyuri Kalman [...] said, ‘I admire you because you
can do what these geniuses ask. I’ve got used to meaningless metrics for decades and I can't
get out of this, and I’m ashamed of that.’ And there was no irony in it.” Magdolna Jäkfalvi —
Istvan Nanay — Balazs Sipos (eds.): A második életmű. Székely Gábor és a színházcsinálás
iskolája, Budapest, Balassi—Arktisz, 2016, 214.
Cf. “The rhythm and the style of acting, in case of all gears of this very interesting and
complex stage system, i.e. the actors are consistent, while each one revolves around his own
historically and mentally individual character.” Matrai-Betegh: Jean Paul Marat, 9.
56:
a
+ 116°