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PATRIOTISM TURNED INTO SOCIAL ISSUE
houses”.°% In this style, “ordinary voices did not impede the effect of the
music” and even “evoked the folk reality which may have been one of the most
important layers of The Passion of Csiksomly6”.%! Stephen the King was played
in double-casting (except the roles of Koppäny and Torda, which were only
played by Gyula Vikidál and Csaba Ivánka) and the actors debuted in an order
decided by lottery. The critics did not find any “particularly weak points"? in
either of the casts, and “the two teams were matching each other evenly”.°?
In case of the title hero, double-casting became a remarkably nuanced factor
of interpretation, since the temperament and acting of Istvan Bubik and Istvan
Hirtling highlighted Stephen’s different characteristics, both as a character
in the rock opera and as a historical figure. Hirtling was singing “softer, in a
more lyrical tone”, and portrayed “a more skeptical and less confident Stephen,
who seemed to be drifting with the tide”, while Bubik was “more determined
and purposeful” in all Stephen’s dilemmas.* The difference between the
two portrayals of Stephen was precisely described by the reviewer of Pesti
Műsor, who detailed the performance of the two actors in a separate article.
According to him, Hirtling’s Stephen is the obedient son of his mother, but
he suffers under the heavy burden and offers his suffering to God, bowing his
head like a sacrificial lamb and shouldering the fault of the terrible fight. “He is
the protector of the Roman Church, the pillar of Christianity, St. Stephen.”**
Bubik’s Stephen is the grandson of the leaders of the steppes, who definitely
vows to move forward and fights face-to-face with his relative, Koppany. He
listens to his mother prudently, and looks proudly at the sky when he says,
“With you, my Lord, but still without you.” “He is the protector of the country,
the pillar of the state, Stephen the King." Besides these two actors, Csaba
Ivanka was highlighted in the reviews, whose scene frequently achieved
“complete success” with an immediate applause, by portraying the figure of
Torda with his body writhing and his eyes twisting in ecstasy.** In spite of
these extremes, neither he nor anyone else in the cast had changed realist
acting as required by a mise-en-scene that tried to reveal all motivations and
relations precisely. Realism was not really modified by the actors who played
860 Tbid.
#61 Fabian: Leng a zászló, 5.
Gabor: Istvan, a kirdly, 8.
Székely: A Tizenkét dühös ember, 28.
864 Mészáros: Az ősi érdek, 7. — Tamás Koltai even stated that "the more appropriate actor for
the title role is István Bubik. He is as royal as a figure should be in a rock opera with all the
explosiveness, toughness, vulnerability and strength of a boisterous, modern-day adolescent.
Istvan Hirtling’s Stephen is less resolute, and his lyrical acting interprets the role from the
point of view of a history play — necessarily, as his voice suits the requirements of his part
less." Koltai: Történelem kontra Magyarország, 13.
Eszter Seress: , Mondd, te kit választanál?", Pesti Műsor, Vol. 35, No. 1, 1‘ January, 1986, 11.
866 Tbid.
867 Simon Gy.: István a Nemzetiben, 14.
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