Oldal 194 [194]
THE TRAGIC OF “VITAL HATRED”
and searching for the causes of misanthropy, which placed the 1988 premiere
into a whole series of productions. Its pendants include Székely’s Timon of
Athens (staged in Szolnok in 1976), Coriolanus (staged at the Katona in 1985)
and Ivanoy, his last mise-en-scéne (staged at the Uj Theatre in 1996), while its
direct (not just chronological) antecedent was Catullus (staged at the Katona
in 1987).°°* As a result of this unwavering interest, Székely’s Misanthrope had
also gained extremely gloomy overtone — not uniquely, of course, but by joining
a centuries-old tradition"? — and moved towards tragicomedy. In contrast to
László Vamos’s 1971 staging at the Madach Kamara, Székely’s mise-en-scéne
was not updated in terms of visuals, but still gave its verdict on the present
because of its ideotextual nature (in the sense of Patrice Pavis”°‘). The harrowing
interpretation was conveyed through a clear guidance of actors, characteristic
to Szekely, moderately historicist sets and costumes and apt solutions of acting
full of contemporary vibrance, in short, “with a very clear style”.°57
ACTING
The mise-en-scéne focused on the actors’ interpretation of the drama so
much that a critic complained that “the director’s ingenuity could hardly
be discovered in it”.°°* On the one hand, the actors’ work was characterized
by the psychologically motivated and authenticated disclosure of situations,
figures and relationships, in the spirit of identification with the character, and
placing Moliére almost within the framework of playing Chekhov in recent
times.” On the other hand, it was the complete opposite of classicist acting
and was defined by continuous movement to express attitudes corresponding
to “our hectic rhythm of life”, “hasty pace” and “hysteroid mindset”.?°°
954 Cf. Székely "stages the drama as a ‘continuation’ of Milän Füst’s (and his own) Catullus about
a cursed passion in which nothing is clear”. Tamás Koltai: A tökélyre vágyó magányossága,
Élet és Irodalom, Vol. 32, No. 48, 25 November, 1988, 12.
As Géza Fodor noted, “Rousseau [in his famous letter to Monsieur d’Alambert] started the
reinterpretation and reassessment of Alceste as a tragic figure”. in Moliere: A mizantröp,
Program, 2.
Patrice Pavis: From Page to Stage: A Difficult Birth, trans. Jilly Daugherty, in Theatre at the
Crossroads of Culture, London — New York, Routledge, 1992, 24—46, especially 36.
Almási: Szeressetek az embergyülölöt!, 7.
Szäntö: Karzat, 43.
Csaba Antal’s “veranda-like system of corridors” (Tarjan: Odi et amo, 21.) could have
been a set for a play by Chekhov as well. The bench on the proscenium, on which actors
were occasionally sitting with their backs to the audience, could also allude to the spatial
configuration of (the first act of) the Moscow Art Theatre’s Seagull, as a sign of acting
conceived in the spirit of Stanislavsky.
Fodor: Mizantrép-valtozat, 11. — In this respect, it is emblematic that the production began
and ended with running. At the beginning, Alceste was running into the performance space
to hide himself from Philinte. At the end, he was running out, with Philinte and Eliante
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