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Szerző/Author: Árpád Kékesi Kun (Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church, Budapest)
E-mail: kekesi.kun.arpad@kre.hu
Rövid életrajz/Bio: Árpád Kékesi Kun, PhD, dr. habil. is Associate Professor at the Department of Theatre Studies, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church, Budapest. He was chairman of the Committee of Theatre and Film Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for twelve years and has been editor of Theatron since 1998. His research work and publications focus on 20th century and contemporary trends of director’s theatre as well as the past and present of music theatre (mostly staging operas). He is the author and editor of fourteen books and more than eighty essays on various aspects of the performing arts. His most recent publications include the English-language monograph, Ambiguous Topicality. A Philther of State-Socialist Hungarian Theatre (L’Harmattan, 2021).
How to cite:
Theatron, Vol. 16. No. 4. (2022): 81–95.
Cím/Title (ENG): “World Theatre in Szolnok” During the 1970s. Gábor Székely: The Drake’s Head, 1973
Abstract:

Gábor Székely’s stagings of Örkény, Chekhov, Molière and Shakespeare in Szolnok during the 1970s overshadow his mise-en-scène of Gácsérfej (The Drake’s Head), whose significance is almost made imperceptible by the unfamiliarity of the play (and its author), and the complete absence of its stage history in Hungary. However, the 1973 performance of George Ciprian’s play illustrates the far-reaching boldness of the effort that “we want to create world theatre here in Szolnok”, which could be the motto of the Székely Era in this small Hungarian town. The essay outlines how The Drake’s Head developed into the essence of this ambition, and how free from orthodoxy Székely handled “committed political theatre”, even against the expectations of the authorities.

Keywords: Philther, the Szigligeti Theatre in Szolnok, 1970s, Romanian drama, political theatre, retheatricalization