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IMRE KERÉNYI: KING JOHN, 1984
Both the past and the present appeared on stage. Ihe audiences attention
was sometimes drawn by an ornately carved organ at the back and high above
the floor, and sometimes by blue neon tubes, illuminated in the shape of a
cross above the rectangular performance space. The shimmering white floor,
occasionally in a silvery light, came into focus especially at the beginning and
at the end, when a ceremonial “ice ballet” was performed there to some dance
music.” There was an execution at the end too, before the floor was mopped
up again, but those three noblemen were decapitated then who had held
the baskets at the beginning. “The story led from three beheadings to three
beheadings this time, to the first act of the new regime.”* The pantomime,
which displayed the cycle of the Grand Mechanism, could also be made
meaningful in the sense of a Marxist conception of history, stating that it
was “an accurate interpretation of the pungently ironic play that pillories
the madness of power, the indifferent realpolitik, the romantic enthusiasm
and the great powers that reign over the heads of mankind”.® But the
“bizarre clean-up”*” or even “purge”,*°? performed with shocking routine
and pedantry, could also gain topical political meaning, especially because of
its modality, very different from the requirements of Marxism. Therefore, it
could also conjure up the not-so-triumphant moments of socialist salvation
history. (In this respect, the wordless procedure of the pantomime became
particularly important.) Spectators were laughing at the kings kissing like
veteran party leaders and at the marching behind huge flags to “mischievous
leitmotifs” of national anthems and French folk songs. They were smiling at
the royal families’ greeting and cursing each other according to rehearsed
forms following the resurgence of tableaus that had become motionless for a
moment, as if to take a photo. But all this amusement was shattered by “the
profane ritual of the mop, the stick and the bucket of water”, confronting the
audience with the fact that “the stage of history must always be cleaned of
blood in the end".
7° Cf. “Three people come in: a ‘master of ceremonies’ and two soldiers. A bucket is taken out
of the sideboard [i.e. from under the stairs], and the boss pours water into it. They dip a mop
in the water, twist it on a long stick with dead serious choreography, while festive music is
playing. Then they start to mop up, and the boss is checking the flag. The music is turning
into a waltz, they put everything away. One of the ministers (Pal Macsai) comes in and checks
the cleanliness of the floor with a white cloth. King John (Istvan Hirtling) and his entourage
arrive, as well as the French ambassador: three lords are being executed. The heads of the
political enemies are put into baskets. The king covers them with a shawl. He takes out the
third one, hugs it, shows it up. The baskets are carried out. John looks at the ambassador
sarcastically. And now comes the first sentence from Diirrenmatt’s King John.” Gabor Banyai:
János király az Ódry Színpadon, Népszava, Vol. 111, No. 237, 7 October, 1983, 6.
800 (bogacsi): Két vizsgaeldadas, 3.
801 Bányai: János király, 6.
802 Földes: János király, 22.
803 Varjas: Ujrajatszva, 13.
804 Koltai: Üjranézé, 45.
+ 161 +