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ENDRE MARTON: CHAPTERS ON LENIN, 1970 drama that, say, Peter Weiss made", "" 1he Investigation, anoratorioin 11 cantos by the same Swedish-German writer, directed in early 1967 at the National by Tamás Major, was definitely a key inspiration to assembling Chapters.""5 Gyurké felt an aversion towards historical drama,°” and named the genre of his work as “documentary oratorio”, which apart from a few connecting sentences is composed of documents, minutes, letters and memoires. The dramatic structure is created with the montage of these excerpts, and all emotional effects rely on “thoughtful, accurate superimposition”*” and the “exciting qualities of the documents themselves”.“' The work neither has a coherent narrative, nor does it create narrative figures, and cannot be approached with the classical categories of theatre theory, i.e. space, time and plot. It does contain names — the names of the people that the quoted documentary excerpts originate from — but it lacks dialogues or stage directions, and the combination of individual voices of different tones makes it oratoric, while “omitting the chorus typical of the oratorio”.° Consequently, we can hardly speak of dramatic text, only of dramatic conflicts, which are conveyed by montage in the central two chapters, and while it adds to the intellectual content — following Brecht’s teaching, addressing the mind -, it also manipulates the emotions.* Chapters on Lenin tries to surpass a realist approach to the past, without giving up on identification — or at least on the audience’s identification with the difficult struggle involved in some of the reported historical situations." It does not give the actor the opportunity to try on a “historical role” and identify with a “historical character”, but it does for the audience, since according to Gyurkó, without that, “we are not wholly capable of understanding our 607 (bernath): Fejezetek Leninről, 5. 608 In other words, the director Endre Marton’s statement that “Gyurkö’s work has neither an antecedent nor a parallel” (Gach: Egyiitt éljiik at, 5.) is false, similarly to all references to the unique status of Chapters by critics. Today, some of the arguments in favor of the extraordinary nature of the play seem even ridiculous. Cf. “There has never been a revolution like this, and such a leader whom this performance is about.” András Rajk: Fejezetek Leninről. Gondolatok a Nemzeti Színház előadásához, Népszava, Vol. 98, No. 94, 23"! April, 1970, 2. In a radio interview, Gyurkó said that "I dont like historical novels or historical dramas, so I dont like having to imagine that I am in a by-gone age, among long-lost people who actually lived". Szombat délután. Radio broadcast at 16.34. on 18" April, 1970. M.B.B.: Fejezetek Leninről. Gyurkó László dokumentumoratóriuma a Nemzeti Színházban, Magyar Nemzet, Vol. 26, No. 99, 294 April, 1970, 5. György Kriszt: Fejezetek Leninről. Gyurkó László műve a Nemzeti Színházban, Pest Megyei Hírlap, Vol. 24, No. 114, 17" May, 1980, 4. 62 Ibid. 43 Cf. Gyurkö’s statement: “I wanted to address emotionsin the same way as I wanted to address the mind. Besides, I am convinced that no problem, no historical problem can be understood if we do not experience it emotionally." Szombat délután. Radio broadcast at 16.34. on 18" April, 1970. Gyurkó said that he was interested in Lenin’s human relations “in a way that would account for human struggle”. No author: A telefonnál: Gyurkó László, Szervező 12:3 (1970), 11. 609 610 61 614
