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IMRE KERÉNYI: STEPHEN THE KING, 1985
the three gentlemen, Sur, Solt and Bese as turncoats (literally as well) in hats
with Orphan maidenhair and singing into disco mics, sometimes directly to
the audience.
STAGE DESIGN AND SOUND
While the 1983 production in the City Park evoked the iron-pipe sets
of the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar, which had provided a model
for Stephen the King," the production of the National Theatre created an
autonomous world of scenography. Its main elements, the curved bridges,
rising and sinking dynamically, and a huge lurex disc shining in several colors
behind them, reminded spectators of the main sites of the previous history
of Stephen the King without attempting to copy the shape of King Hill or the
imposing fagade ofthe Cathedral of Szeged. The stage ofthe National Theatre
was, in fact, tiny compared to the previous ones, but the system of bridges,
which was structuring the performance space both horizontally and vertically
throughout, became an active part of the show. Smaller visual elements
displayed a sky-high world tree (shaman ladder), on which “the shaman
was crawling up in trance to see into the future", as well as a raised shield
shining like the sun, or the above-mentioned disc of the background, whose
pale blue glow evoked the moon. Bela Götz’s set design “almost conjured
up the cosmology of ancient Hungarian faith on the stage of the National
Theatre”, which transformed easily into “dimensions of the new faith”,®”° since
the bridges could remind the audience of the straps of St. Stephen’s crown
too. Ihe antlers straddling the shield carried by the “amazons guarding the
Wonder Stag",""! i.e. the women of Koppány, and the long crosses became
instruments of sacral theatre-like celebrations: focal points of the spectators
gaze in the midst of a crowd often swirling onstage. Although the production
was not devoid of “some clutter — all kinds of cloth, shrouds and requisites
in excess”*” —, it met the requirements of a large-scale spectacle expected
from the musical stage with much invention and tastefulness. In Nelly Vägö’s
folksy clothes, accentuating the fabrics of canvas, leather, silk and velvet, the
actors were singing to the music recorded by Hungaroton, and the orchestral
playback was complemented only by an ominously whistling and blustering
wind that connected the songs.
868 The film version of Jesus Christ Superstar was released in Hungarian cinemas ten years late,
only in the summer of 1983.
Fabian: Leng a zászló, 5.
70 Ibid.
Koltai: Történelem kontra Magyarország, 13.
Mészáros: Az ősi érdek, 7.
e 173"