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PATRIOTISM TURNED INTO SOCIAL ISSUE
on appearances. To this end, it focused on details, based them on clear-cut
situations,*** revealed previously unrecognized correlations between them,
and drew the characters with sharp contours. This is why the authors could
perceive that a “more meaningful” production had been made,** and the press
reported that “it is in many respects almost a completely new play that we
see at The National now, although its lyrics and music have not changed”.**°
Critics praised the director’s creation of “thoughtful symbols”,®*’ the rituals
of religious mission, kneeling, pagan washing and shielding, Latin burials
and Asian shaman dances, relocated “from the infinitely wide space of King
Hill to Bela Götz’s tiny stage construction”.*** They also appreciated the
stage, kept in motion all along, where “the paced cross-marches of groups,
the constantly simultaneous actions, the on-stage changes of costumes
and requisites are beneficial in filling short intermissions and giving the
protagonists a permanent rhythmic background - literally, the lively rhythm
of rock accompanying all events — and also balancing necessarily static
arias".??? The fact that actors were singing live in clearly outlined dramatic
situations" often gave lyrics unusual meaning and importance, enhancing
the atmosphere of incessant threat posed by sinister incidents.*' Through the
unity of singing and acting, the singers/actors’ work as well as the director’s
numerous ideas expressed Stephen’s tragedy markedly in “a stage form tailored
to the music"??? and as far as interpretation was concerned, they connected
the staging with two notable previous mises-en-scéne by Kerényi, Ihe Passion
of Csíksomlyó and King John.?? In this way, the dilemma of state foundation,
834 Cf. Mészáros: Az ősi érdek, 7.
835 Janos Brdédy claimed that the production “reveals deep relationships that we may not have
been able to write”. Ferenc Simon Gy.: István a Nemzetiben, Képes Újság, Vol. 26, No. 42, 19'*
October, 1985, 14.
Takács: A döntés drámája, 6.
Székely: A Tizenkét dühös ember, 28.
Lajos Fodor: István, a király — a Nemzetiben, Esti Hírlap, Vol. 30, No. 225, 25 September,
1985, 2.
Mészáros: Az ősi érdek, 7.
In the productions in the City Park and in Szeged, both the music and the vocals were
prerecorded. This is why Tamas Koltai stated that “previous shows had illustrated canned
music with demonstrative spectacle” and the lack of intense drama, stemming from the fact
that the actors were only lip-synching and were unable to express internal content through
spontaneous singing, was “replaced by direct demonstration”. Koltai: Történelem kontra
Magyarorszag, 13.
Cf. “The body of the hanged Laborc sways over the heads of the celebrants, the tortured and
muted chronicler is dragged away from the coronation by soldiers, and in the finale, Stephen,
the king of all Hungarians, is left alone.” Sds: Istvan, a helyén, 17.
Mészáros: Az ősi érdek, 7.
The critic of Film Színház Muzsika felt "the experience and intricate style" of The Passion
of Csíksomlyó present throughout Stephen the King, as if the mise-en-scéne had regarded
the rock opera as a “passion play conceived in the present". (Fábián: Leng a zászló, 5.) In
addition, the symbolic gesture that closes Stephen the King, namely, the title hero is lifting
a child wrapped in a black shroud while he is looking upwards, shows "innocence as victim
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