Oldal 183 [183]
TAMÁS ASCHER: THREE SISTERS, 1985
Chekhov in the work of the actors, and only the superficial interpretation of a
few critics could find some kind of “regular” or “normative Chekhov” in it."
The insistence on the dramatic text went hand in hand with an impressive
variety of stage signs constructed beyond, but entirely on the basis of, the text,
so the production became governed by “the peculiar rhythm of the presence
of individual actors” as a principle of dramaturgy too.”
STAGING
It was a general professional consensus that Ascher’s mise-en-scéne was
“a masterpiece of precision, timing, guiding actors, dramaturgical structure
and rhythmic shifts.”°* The precise orchestration of all means of theatre, the
alternation of static and dynamic situations as well as different moods, the
attention to the minutiae that seemed irrelevant but not meaningless, the
abundant creation of the formality of a former world and the eruptions of
inwardness that shattered it — all these features provided the performance
with such richness that had a mostly emotional effect on the audience. After
all, in the midst of the density of events, the spectator was hardly able to
realize them: although he/she perceived them, they did not affect him/her
at the level of cognition. In addition to acknowledging this unusual “theatre
symphony””°* and the “polyphony of labyrinthine emotions”,’® reviewers
often mentioned the highly “traditional” and “conservative” nature of the
production, but (with the exception of a few foreign critics) they immediately
dispelled the pejorative overtones of these adjectives and even questioned
their validity.°°° Istvan Nanay made the description of such productions more
precise, claiming that “every little detail is worked out and connected with
each other in them, everything has its reasons and consequences, every
action of the characters triggers reactions in the others, thereby creating an
infinitely fine and sensitive system of relationships, all serving the message
of the production.” Consequently, the “traditional” and the “conservative”
had been concretized in psychological realism by that time, and Ascher’s
°°! The critics of the Israeli periodicals Hédrec and Chdddsot were quoted in Koltai: Egy vendég¬
jaték kritikai, 13.
902 András Pályi: Színházi előadások Budapesten, Jelenkor, 29:6 (1986), 541.
903 Klett: Wunder und Wircklichkeit, 29.
904 Cf. "Aschers production is indeed built like a piece of symphonic music...” Palyi: Szinhazi
előadások Budapesten, 544.
905 Tamás Koltai: Csehoviádák, Élet és Irodalom, Vol. 30, No. 1, 3:4 January, 1986, 13.
906 Cf. "As for style”, Ascher’s Three Sisters is “a perfectly realist, almost conservative
production. It proves how pointless these adjectives become when the personal involvement
and credibility of the performance sweep away all sorts of definitions. When the world view
of the production is indisputable.” Mészaros: Egy korszakos elöadäs, 1.
907 Istvan Nanay: Valtozatok a reménytelenségre, Szinhdz 19:3 (1986), 12.
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