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PATRIOTISM TURNED INTO SOCIAL ISSUE IMRE KERÉNYI: STEPHEN THE KING, 1985 o> Title: Stephen the King. Date of Premiere: 21 September, 1985. Venue: National Theatre, Budapest. Director: Imre Kerényi. Conductor: Árpád Nagy. Author: János Bródy (based on Miklós Boldizsárs drama Ezredforduló [A New Millennium]). Composer: Levente Szörényi. Dramaturg: Enikő Márai. Choreographer: Ferenc Novák. Set designer: Béla Götz. Costume designer: Nelly Vágó. Company: National Iheatre, Budapest. Actors: István Hirtling, István Bubik (Stephen the king), Angéla Császár, Mari Szemes (Sarolt, Stephens mother), Adél Kovács, Róza Juhász (Gizella, Stephens wife), Zoltán Nagy, Ödön Rubold (Astrik, high priest), László Baranyi, Vilmos Izsóf (Missionary), Pál Mácsai, Bertalan Bagó (Vecellin), Frigyes Funtek, Géza Kaszás (Hont, German knight), Ödön Rubold, Péter Győri (Pázmány, German knight), Gyula Vikidál, Tamás Földes (Koppány, the rebel), Csaba Ivánka (Torda, the shaman), József Tahi, Frigyes Funtek (Laborc, Hungarian gentleman), Anna Götz, Anna Kubik (Réka, Koppánys daughter), Athina Papadimitriu (Boglárka, wife of Koppány), Krisztina Peremartoni (Picur, wife of Koppány), Fruzsina Pregitzer (Enikő, wife of Koppány), László Csurka (Sur, Hungarian gentleman), Endre Botár (Solt, Hungarian gentleman), Gyula Sersén (Bese, Hungarian gentleman), György Csák, József Tahi (Young bard), Csongor Ferenczy (Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians). CONTEXT OF THE PERFORMANCE IN THEATRE CULTURE By trying to turn patriotism into social issue and by raising the rock opera’s rhetoric of music drama to an aesthetic dimension, the production of the National Theatre started the theatre history of Stephen the King in the strict sense. It was the first indoor staging of the play by Levente Szörényi and János Bródy, which was taken into the repertory and played for many seasons at the National, and two years after the “theatrical folk festival" or “open-air 810 Tamas Mészaros: Az ési érdek. Istvan, a kiraly, a Nemzeti Szinhäzban, Magyar Hirlap, Vol. 18, No. 228, 28'* September, 1985, 7. «163 +
