Opening! A new season is announced at the Szigligeti Theatre

Season 2012/2013 will be a season of festivals in Oradea – announced the executives of the theatre in the framework of a press conference. “The entire world is a festival” -  this Shakespearean paraphrase is the motto of the season. The Szigligeti Theatre or more precisely the Szigligeti Company and the Nagyvárad Folk Dance Ensemble will be the hosts of two events this autumn: the Interethnic Theatre Festival and the Meeting of Hungarian Transylvanian Professional Folk Dance Ensembles. There will be an all arts festival next year, known under the work title of After Holnap (The day after tomorrow - Reference to the “Holnap”/Tomorrow anthology published by the “Holnap”/Tomorrow Literary Society (1908-1909), considered the beginnings of modern Hungarian literature), and a series of performances entitled Summer Nights at Szigligeti (Szigligeti Summer Nights).
Plans and results

Katalin Czvikker, managing director, was the first who spoke at the press conference and shared the results of the previous season and the future plans of the institution with the representatives of the press. She mentioned that we should be proud of two artists of the Szigligeti Company: M. Róbert Kardos, who has been recently awarded the Jászai Mari Prize, and Levente Dimény, who was awarded for his performance in Liliomfi at the Kisvárda Festival of Hungarian Theatres. Another concept underlined by Katalin Czvikker was gratitude. As she said, first of all we should be very grateful to the audience, because in the previous season our performances met with an interest that hasn’t been seen for a long time. More than forty-two thousand people came to see our performances, only Liliomfi was viewed by thirteen thousand spectators. Another topic was the infrastructural development: among others the theatre will purchase translator equipment, in order to be able to provide Romanian subtitles for the performances; but the acquisition of a new light bridge system is also to happen soon. Another novelty of the new season is that during the intermissions the audience will be able to get information about the other performances and the programme of the theatre from the monitors situated in the lobby and at the corridors. There is an innovation in connection to the season tickets as well, which will be replaced by electronic cards. The cards store all the necessary information regarding the given season ticket similarly to credit cards. The performance areas of the theatre are also renewed, the stage and the auditorium of the puppet theatre is under construction right now, and the studio room located next to the theatre will be finished during this season. In the long run the theatre may be extended with another performance area, we won’t have to wait for a long time for the former Transilvania Cinema at Bémer Square (Ferdinand I.) to be renewed and used by the two theatres.
Colourful repertoire: comedy, musical, contemporary Hungarian and Romanian drama
István Szabó K., the artistic director of the Szigligeti Company talked about the programme of the season in detail. He said that the first premiere of the season will take place on 19 October. Beaumarchais’ comedy The Barber of Seville will be staged by Zalán Zakariás, the artistic director of the Tamási Áron Theatre of Sfântu Gheorhghe. However in the middle of September the company will start to play Oedipus, premiered in the previous season, which was invited at the beginning of the season to the Short Drama Festival organized by the Romanian theatre. The second big stage performance of the season is the popular musical entitled My Fair Lady, and its premiere will take place on New Year’s Eve. The performance will be directed by the Hungarian director Attila Réthly. István Szabó K. directs the third big stage performance himself; he stages Romulus the Great by Dürrenmatt at the beginning of next year. There will be a season ticket switch during this season, in collaboration with the Csokonai Theatre of Debrecen, the audience of Oradea will see the Tragedy of Man, directed by Attila Vidnyánszky, the director of Csokonai Theatre. In return The Great Romulus will be played several times in Debrecen by the Szigligeti Company as a season ticket performance. Of course there will be studio performances as well during the season; firstly the audience will see Ernő Szép’s comedy, entitled Firefighter. The rehearsals of this performance have already begun, led by the actor Géza Hajdu. András Forgách’s tragedy, The boy will be directed by the author himself next spring. At the end of the season the Szigligeti Company will premiere an exciting, contemporary Romanian drama: Gianina Cărbunariu’s The day after tomorrow the day before yesterday. István Szabó K. defines the genre of the play as an (end) play.
There will be another special theatrical event at the beginning of the season, because this year the Szigligeti Theatre is the host of the Interethnic Theatre Festival, which is held every two years as a parade for the minority theatres and companies of Romania. Along with the Transylvanian Hungarian theatres, the German theatres and company of Timișoara and Sibiu and the Jewish Theatre of Bucureşti will also participate at the festival with one performance each. “From Sunday to Sunday the audience will be able to see two or three performances a day from 17 companies; it will be the real celebration of the theatre in Oradea” – said the artistic director.
The programme entitled “School in theatre, theatre in school” continues in the new season. This year not only high schools will take part in the programme but the students of Partium Christian University as well. The programme, just as last year, begins in October and it will end with a performance on the Day of Hungarian Culture: high school students will stage a play from the works of Karinthy while university students a play by Örkény, working together with the artists of the Szigligeti Theatre.
The company will also continue its reading theatre series: however there was only one occasion in the last season, István Szabó K. hopes to organize at least 3-4 reading theatre nights during this season.
The artistic director also talked about the season ticket system: in comparison to the last season, the prices of the season tickets were lowered and new season ticket types were introduced. The Bessenyei György regional season ticket targets primarily those who live beyond the border, and with the Arany János travelling theatre season ticket the theatre targets those who don’t live in Oradea. More information about the season ticket system can be found on the homepage of the theatre (www.szigligeti.ro), from the press, or from the organizational staff of the theatre.
Establishing a tradition
“Despite the fact that the Nagyvárad Folk Dance Ensemble celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, Oradea doesn’t have a real tradition for dance performances and dance theatre – said Levente Dimény, the leader of the folk dance ensemble - , and this is what we want to change.” The folk dance ensemble also organizes a festival, because the Meeting of Hungarian Transylvanian Professional Folk Dance Ensembles will take place in Oradea between 4-7 October. The opening performance of the meeting will be the first premiere of the folk dance ensemble, entitled Fekete Sáfrán, based on Áron Tamási’s work of the same name, staged by Csaba László, director-choreographer. The Nagyvárad Folk Dance Ensemble starts an informative programme for schools with the title Nine Thousand Kilometers in the Service of Folk Tradition and as its parts they will present the following performances: Geography class with dancing, History class with dancing and Advent play.
Nagyvárosi bújdosók (City exiles) is a folk dance performance, based on the creation of Ferenc Kiss, the founder of Aquarius Band. The performance will be staged by the popular Hungarian director-choreographer, actor, composer, singer Péter Novák, in the role of the moderator.
The Lilliput Company started the season in a Jungle-camp
The first premiere of the theatre’s puppet company will take place this week: Aliz Mosonyi’s Sleeping Beauty adaptation can be seen by children and adults at the puppet theatre. The performance – which is based on a nice and funny play according to András Szőke Kavinszki, artistic director – is directed by Rita Bartal Kiss. In November the Lilliput Company and the Szigligeti Company premieres together the popular musical The Jungle Book, written by the László Dés-Péter Geszti-Pál Békés trio of authors. The Jungle-camp which has recently ended was a part of the preparation for the performance and the process of rehearsal, it was held at Răchițele in Cluj County, where the school children chosen for the performance could spend several days, led by the actors of the company. The Lilliput Company also plans a reading theatre for the new season: János Arany’s Toldi will be presented, according to the plans in “non-conventional theatre spaces”. The season will close with a puppet-play entitled Kormos képpel mutogat (Kormos' Picture Show), directed by László Rumli. The performance is based on three poems by István Fekete written from folk tales, using three distinctive worlds of forms and different puppet theatre styles.
After “Holnap” (The Day After Tomorrow) and Summer Theatre Nights
Attila Sorbán, the head of the PR department, talked about the other two series of events planned in the framework of the Festival, connected to the slogan: After “Holnap” (The Day After Tomorrow) is a 2-3 day long, festival like event, which targets the tracing and thematising of the life work of those writers, poets, artists and theatre people who are connected to Oradea.
The Szigligeti Theatre aims to create the possibility of meaningful entertainment and the consumption of culture in the summer period as well. Therefore the theatre starts a series of events called Summer Nights at Szigliget (Szigligeti Summer Nights), according to the plans; these occasions will take place in the summer theatre at Oradea’s Fortress if the weather conditions allow it. In the case of rainy weather the performances will be held within the walls of the theatre. The detailed programme of the event will be published later by the Szigligeti Theatre.