Oldal 158 [158]
A BITTER FARCE OF LOSING POLITICAL IDEALS
STAGING
Kerényi’s mise-en-scéne deepened the “sneering ritual ofnational buffoonery””™
into a story of downfall that conveyed immeasurable bitterness and avoided
both uniformity and superficial eclecticism in its performance style. Several
reviewers noted that the production was more complex and nuanced than
Dürrenmatt’s play and it had “a strong interpretation of the world appearing
in a definite theatrical form, similarly to Gabor Székely’s Flight [from Mikhail
Bulgakov’s play], Jozsef Ruszt’s Easter [based on Isaac Babels’s Red Cavalry]
and Tamas Ascher’s The Cherry Orchard recently”. Compared to Kerényi’s
previous works, the representation of this world view, as well as the polished use
of elements of various traditions, styles and standards of theatre, had already
come as a revelation on Odry Stage.” Due to some new actors of the National
Theatre, the heterogeneity of acting styles slightly increased at the Castle
Theatre,’° while “the composition became more precise and professional
in every detail” at the same time.’ The revived production emphasized its
“overly grotesque approach”, which stemmed from the representation of the
mechanism of power as really mundane.” Contrary to József Ruszts opinion,
who sensed a different kind of humor,’” this approach made the mise-en-scéne
764 Ibid.
765 Iván Sándor: Älkerdesek helyett. Éjféli napló, Film Színház Muzsika, Vol. 28, No. 50, 158
December, 1984, 17.
Cf. “This is not the kind of theatre we have recently associated with Kerényi’s name. He
has liked far-fetched heroism and used to boast with history, he has felt affinity for folk
traditions of theatre, for dramatic folklore. He has also created a so-called social satire that
seemed to understand neither society nor the genre." Mészáros: A komédiás uralkodik, 6. —
766
“In recent years, Imre Kerényi’s works have proved that the director demands a politically
committed theatre open to social, political and national problems. This urgent need often
dictated too fast a pace, so his results were doubtful, and the uttering of his message became
more important than any other consideration. [...] This staging, King John is fundamentally
different from this negative tendency [because] it consists of more than the void of ideological
determination.” György: Fejezet a zsarnokságról, 7.
767 Cf. "Kerényi made [...] the actual age and the familiarity or unfamiliarity of actors part of the
production and the interpretation of the play. The eclecticism of acting styles in some cases,
therefore, helps to show the differences between the worlds of the characters.” Ibid., 10.
Mészáros: A korszerűtlen ésszerűség, 7.
Cf. "There is plenty of derision and irony in the constant waving of flags and in the songs that
characterize the courts. (The French sing Sur le pont d Avignon, and the doom of the English
comes with the canon of London’s burning, London's burning.)” Gyorgy: Fejezet a zsarnok¬
ságról, 11.
According to Ruszt, "the environment of the college students" production suited the play
76:
œ
769
77
Ss
better. The technical components of the performance were stronger, and as far as acting was
concerned, the young people were playing in a more dangerous way. It was a cruel, dangerous
performance. [...] The bodies and souls of the people in their 20s produced the filth of the
play with their natural purity, but also dissolved it at the same time. Youth and passion
put serious problems into their right place in the audience. The production of the Castle
Theatre, on the other hand, was cynical. There’s a fantastic political-historical machinery
working in this show, and it is scary that we live in a world like this, so vulnerable. After this