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DÁNIEL TIBOR HEGYI
Karpenko-Kary Theater, Cinema, and Television University. The early, fruitful
years he spent in Kiev had a great impact on his later life, as he did not only
get to know the Ukrainian and Russian theater, he also became acquainted
with the major Russian classics (Stanislavski, Meyerhold, Chekhov) and with
the works of the Polish innovators, representing the newest theatrical aspira¬
tions: Jerzy Grotowski, Tadeusz Kantor, and Wiodzimierz Staniewski. Besides
all this, as a don in Kiev he had the unique opportunity to start up two fully
Hungarian acting classes, with students who later became members of his
drama group in Beregszász.
Vidnyanszky always wanted to do Hungarian theater, “especially explor¬
ing the possibilities for a renewal of the Hungarian theatrical language, [...]
the inclusion and further shaping of the important Slavic theater traditions
and achievements, together with the peculiar Hungarian mentality created a
special and unique theatrical language.””' This aim, the “new, universally ac¬
cepted Hungarian theatrical language” could only come into existence from
the synthesis of Hungarian and foreign traditions, according to Vidnyanszky,”
and he was already trying to get this concept to work while he was working in
Beregszász, at the Illyés Gyula Hungarian National Theater.” His biggest, even
internationally acclaimed, premiere during his years in Beregszász, was Mihály
Csokonai Vitézs play Dorottya which was performed in Hungarian in the third
Theatre Olympics in 2001, in Moscow, and was a huge success. Despite the
language barrier, Vidnyanszky’s theater still received a great reception and
“after the show, the praising crowd was talking about how the ancient powers
of theater had torn down the barriers of language and culture, there and then
the Hungarian theater won the heart of the Russian audience.”** Comparing
this favorable criticism in 2001 with Vidnyanszky’s views on theatrical aesthet¬
ics, that he expressed in relation to the premiere of Joan of Arc at the Stake in
2013, his authorial concepts become as crystal clear as ever:
as a Hungarian, and Christianity.” Gabor Turi: Kéltészet a szinpadon. A Vidnyänszky-korszak
mérlege. [Poetry on Stage. An account of the Vidnyanszky era], Hitel, Vol. 28, August 2015,
112.
Andras Kozma: Szláv alkotók a Csokonai Színházban. Előzmények [Slavic authors in the
Csokonai Theater. Preludes], in István Kornya (ed.): A költői színház. Hét évad a Csokonai
Szinhazban: 2006-2013. [The Poetic theater. Seven seasons in the Csokonai Theater: 2006¬
2013], Debrecen, Csokonai Szinhäz, 2013, 70.
2 Kozma: Ibid.
Edit Kulcsar: Purcarete, a szinpad magusa. Egy roman szinhazi mester a debreceni Csokonai
Szinhazban. [Purcarete, magus of the theater. A Romanian master of theaters in the Csokonai
Theater, Debrecen], in István Kornya (ed.): A költői színház, 74.
3 Kulcsár: Ibid.
4 Kozma: Ibid.