Next spring, the Theater Olympics will start in Hungary, and Debrecen will also take part in the programs
“Hungary has never organized such a significant theater event,” said Attila Vidnyánszky, general manager of the National Theater and artistic director of the Theater Olympiad, at the press conference announcing the event on Tuesday in Budapest.
He pointed out that more than a hundred partner institutions participate in the program, and that I would like to present a cross-section of the entire Hungarian theater life at the event.
At Színházi Olimpián, the Hungarian audience will be able to meet the direction and work of such professional giants as Theodórosz Terzopulosz, Tadashi Suzuki, Romeo Castellucci, Szlava Polunyin, Heiner Goebbels, Eugenio Barba, Alessandro Serra, Liu Libin or Declan Donnellan – listed Attila Vidnyánszky.
As he added, there will also be puppet and dance festivals. Out of the almost 600 performances of the Theater Olympics, more than 330 performances are recorded by representatives of the puppet genre.
The alternative scene is represented by Jurányi Ház and Bethlen Téri Theater among others. The Budapest Operetta Theater, which is 100 years old this year, is also organizing a festival. The Győr National Theater unites the theaters along the Danube. Amateurs and student actors will also have festivals, and open-air theaters will also join the event.
Attila Vidnyánszky said that one of the focuses of the Olympics will be Imre Madách, whose work will be presented not only in conferences, exhibitions, and new books, but also by groups from theater schools in 12 countries around the world, who will work on The Tragedy of Man.
Attila Vidnyánszky drew attention to the fact that the Theater Olympiad on his website some of the programs can already be viewed, and the offer will be expanded with new productions in the coming weeks.
András Pataki, the deputy state secretary responsible for art and community culture, said that the government is supporting the event with around HUF four billion.
“You can’t help but be preoccupied, since the world’s theater history will be written here in the Carpathian Basin in 2023,” he said. He recalled that previously “similar events were typically only seen on TV recordings, and then MITEM opened up the world a little from the point of view of theater art”, and thus we can already access the most prestigious theater projects in Budapest, and now the Theater Olympiad is being organized as the crown of this.
– The Theater Olympics is an international forum that presents the work of major theater creators from all over the world. Getting to know creative ideas and proposals can advance the future of art – said Theodórosz Terzopulosz, founder of the Theater Olympiad and director of the Attis Theater in Athens, in his message.
The organizers of the event’s Italian, German, Mexican, and Romanian guest performances also registered online at the event.
Gábor Bakos-Kiss, director of the Győr National Theater, said that in the city June 6-14. the festival of the theaters of the cities along the Danube is organized under the name Dunafestz. April 17-23 the city hosts the Patchwork International Children’s and Youth Festival.
Kiss B. Atilla, the general director of the Budapest Operettszínház, said that in 2023 they will organize a mini Queen of Czars festival, where the audience will see two foreign performances in addition to their own performance.
Tibor Elek, director of the Gyula Castle Theatre, highlighted that in addition to the Gyula institution, seven more open-air theaters have joined the Theater Olympia. The Gyulai Castle Theater is preparing for the event with three performances.
Anikó Asbóth, president of the Association of Hungarian Puppeteers (and director of the Vojtina Puppet Theater in Debrecen), said that the entire Hungarian puppetry profession will be involved in the series of events of the Olympics, and the performances will cover the entire territory of the country. With the cooperation of several regional venues, contemporary and Hungarian-language puppet theaters from across the border will be invited, a puppet festival will be organized in the capital, and there will be open-air, fair, puppet and street theater performances in tribute to the eternity of Henrik Kemény. Seven exhibitions are planned in connection with the programs.
Péter Ertl, director of the National Dance Theater, said that the biggest Hungarian dance ensembles, such as the Győr, Szeged, Pécs, Székesfehérvár and Miskolc ballets, were also happy to join the Olympics. In addition to classical ballet performances, there will also be contemporary dance performances and folk dance performances.
Viktória Rozgonyi-Kulcsár from the Jurányi Incubator House said that they are preparing for the Olympics with a thematic festival with the involvement of international and rural contributors, which has the working title CSET (Family, Individual, Society).
MTI