Oldal 145 [145]
OCR
GEORGY TOVSTONOGOV: THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR, 1973 kind of fear: fear pervading the 1970s in Hungary. It could make them hope that representatives of the present regime (so those of the Kadar regime) would be inevitably summoned sooner or later.”"! As a crucial characteristic of the mise-en-scéne, duality (of the layers mentioned before and also evident in the style of acting) involuntarily initiated the mechanism of “doublespeak” and largely contributed to the reputation of the production. Critics pointed out “the accurate reconstruction of the text, the careful realization of stage directions, the psychological orientation and the historic sets and costumes”.” Mentioned as praiseworthy features of faithfulness to the author, these attributes kept the production within the limits of realist-naturalist staging, while others freed it and obscured the clarity of performance style by means of circus, burlesque, tragedy, etc.”” The mise-en-scéne used distinct forms: its realism was colored by “the uproarious nature of avant-garde-revolutionary theatre”. It combined Gogol with the early tradition of Soviet theatre but “translated both into the language of contemporary performance”.”” Specifically Meyerhold’s initiatives and his 1926 stage version of the play inspired Tovstonogov’s staging to such an extent that it almost paid homage to the great predecessor liquidated by Stalin’s regime. In spite of its smart pluralism’ the production did not 701 Some moments had intriguing overtones, such as the Mayor’s fantasizing about becoming a general or even a generalissimo (think of Stalin’s title!), and the word was “echoing on the walls of the house, generating such hallucinations that froze our blood”. Matrai-Betegh: A revizor, 11. Major: A revizor, 13. Tamas Koltai described this duality as “deep psychological grotesque”, pointing out that “the scene in the carriage cut into half, which imitates shaking so well, has a dramaturgical function: caressing Khlestakov, the officials reveal their relationship to him. [...] However, other moments reject naturalism. When the officials come to Khlestakov, one by one, to bribe him, they do not say their internal reflections quietly ‘aside’ as usual, but as a continuation of their previous sentence, with the same tone and volume, into Khlestakov’s eyes. It is a psychological feat (in addition to using the dialogue technique of the theatre of the absurd): it is no longer the meaning of words that matters, but their situational value.” Koltai: Tovsztonogov és A revizor, 11. — Tovstonogov said that realist-naturalist foundations are needed because “everyday life gives a boost to the imagination. It is not the individual facts that are expressed in the play that matter here, but the process of life itself. [...] Tovstonogov thinks that in order to fight against stereotypes and the banality of the first conception, the director has to direct his imagination, without the formal solutions of the dramatic text, not to the future, to the performance to be directed, but to the past, to the life represented by the playwright. He has to identify with the author’s sense of life. Going back to the past can give a certain psychological impulse, a boost to the imagination.” Saad: A revizor probain, 4. Major: A revizor, 13. 75 Ungvari: Theaterbrief, 11. 76 Cf. “The mayor’s wife and daughter dance a grotesque and silly ballet at the moments of joy. [...] Shpyokin [the postmaster] was given a red nose and a long, hardened white bow, as if he were a clown escaping from a circus. The three bobbies are both puppets and pantomime players.” Bernáth: A revizor, 2. — Tovstonogov “also prefers burlesque humor, which is, of course, often justified by Gogol’s text. In a state of confusion and haste, the mayor puts the box on his head instead of the shako, [and] the magistrate’s feet are shaking 702 70: a «143 +
