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GABOR SZEKELY: THE MISANTHROPE, 1988 In György Cserhalmi’s performance, it was not the ridiculous eccentricity of the misanthrope (similar to that of the miser, Tartuffe and the imaginary invalid) that came to the fore, but the ambivalence of moral battles with other people and the tragic of the loss of these battles. Carrying in his body the memory of the tragic heroes he had already played, Cserhalmi, with his shoulders raised and his hands in his pocket, with his frequent leaping, squatting and lying on the ground, created an imposing but familiar figure, colored by “his modern anxieties and neuroses”.* His “end-of-the-century misanthrope” made present many of the “burnt-out, distressed, hysterical” and self-destructing figures of contemporary Hungarian literature from Imre Sarkadi to Péter Hajnóczy," choosing not only his solitary retirement from social life for all, but supposedly suicide at the end. Dorottya Udvaros displayed Céliméne’s love and fear for Alceste with as much finesse as the inability to give up her insistence on the appearances Alceste hated most. Their clinging together as well as clashing each other seemed to be portrayed with the experience of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?. Besides the precision of ensemble acting, reviewers highlighted the “amoeba-like spinelessness” of Gabor Maté’s Philinte.°* They underscored the “perfection and virtuosity” of Géza Balkay’s acting, together with the contrast of his Oronte to the protagonist, pointing out that this figure is “much more attractive, more human”, and stands closer “to our daily compromises, our little deceits”.?% They also mentioned the successful efforts of Erika Bodnar (Arsinoé) and Agnes Bertalan (Eliante) to avoid the clichés of women highly influenced by Alceste’s attitude. STAGE DESIGN AND SOUND Csaba Antal’s set was neither completely historic nor modern, but rather characterized by “some kind of stylized classicism”.* A coffered ceiling covered the stage, but there were no chandeliers hanging from it, and the space was closed by a large number of off-white glass doors, but there were no rooms behind or next to them. The metaphorical and interpretative power following him after a while. There was a critic for whom “the running and some of the extravagant movements seemed to be superfluous and emphasized at the expense of the text". (Anna Földes: A mizantróp, ma, Nők Lapja, Vol. 40, No. 49, 3’ December, 1988, 21.) Another reviewer described them as components of “powerful physical acting”, interspersed with “hugs and informal gestures”. (Godard: A pillanatok, 48.) Csáki: , Ez a világ — rohad", 28. Földes: A mizantróp, ma, 21. Koltai: A tökélyre vágyó magányossága, 12. Tarján: Odi et amo, 22. Almási: Szeressetek az embergyülölöt!, 7. Koltai: A tökélyre vágyó magányossága, 12. 96: 8 96: a 96 2 96 a 96 a «193 +
