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A THEATER PLAY FROM A CONCERT PIECE; POETRY AND RITUAL IN THE GESAMTKUNST WERK?
the allusions of the heroine become clear: the sword symbolizes the power
acquired by God, which helps Joan to retrieve France for France; under tra¬
ditional circumstances, though, it would be a symbol of war and violence.
Joan’s last sentences exemplify the duality of the power of self-sacrifice and the
power of community, ? as does the closing scene: “It is a real catharsis as Joan
— played by Katya Tompos — simply walks along the edge of the orchestra pit
in her torn white clothes, as if she is walking on the border of damnation and
salvation, spreading the importance and power of love through her glowing
eyes. Joan, the ‘chosen virgin’s’ mystic, clear figure is the message herself: there
is hope. There is love.”*4 Attila Vidnyanszky broadened the figure of Saint Joan
with this naive but determined gesture into a universal symbol, quoting Pierre
Nora, famous French historian of the twentieth century, the site of memory
[lieu de mémoire] of the converging power for the French nation.* In doing so
he made the act of visiting theaters into a celebration, while paying close atten¬
tion to the ritual theater’s liminal, transformative, and cathartic dimensions,
giving the theaters their [inherently] sacral functions back.
APPENDIX
Attila Vidnyanszky talked about the difficulties and the circumstances of
working in the Csokonai Theater in Debrecen.
Excerpts from an interview with Istvan Kornya, editor-in-chief of Nemzeti
Magazin, the magazine of the National Theatre:
ISTVAN KORNYA: Working in a stone theater is a very special ‘way of life’:
new plays have to be premiered all the time, a rehearsal season lasts for only
six weeks, the repertoire has to always offer something new, [...] The lifestyle
of the drama group in Beregszäsz is the exact opposite of this practice. [...]
You still decided to do it. [...] Why?
ATTILA VIDNYÄNSZKY: Because it has been clear to me for quite some time,
then and now, that theaters offer a lot more than solely aesthetical pleasure. In
relation to the theater, the group, and the community this thing has become
something like a service and duty, and this is what became important for me
over the pure aesthetical realm. The revelation came in Beregszász, in "97. The
premiere of the play called Murder in the Cathedral took place in the church
33 “Saint Michael himself gave me this sword, this giant, shining sword. It is not called Hatred
— it is called: Love.” Vidnyanszky: Ibid., 8.
34 Rechtenwald: Ibid.
35 Pierre Nora: Entre Mémoire et Histoire. La problématique des lieux, in P. Nora (ed.): Les lieux
de mémoire — I. La République, Paris, Gallimard, 1984; [Emlékezet és térténelem között.
A helyek problematikaja], trans. Zsolt K. Horvath, http://epa.oszk.hu/00800/00861/00012/99¬
3-10.html, accessed 28 August 2020.