Them and Us – Pintér Béla’s Blood-Red, Off-White, Dark Green and András Urbán’s Sacra Hungarica in Context

Veronika Schandl

doi:10.18778/2353-6098.7.04

Authors

Veronika Schandl Pázmány Péter Catholic University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3888-0392

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2353-6098.7.04

Keywords:

Hungary, independent theatre, p.c., politics, satire, roma, Béla Pintér, András Urbán

Abstract

The paper wishes to document a recent trend visible in the Hungarian independent theatre scene – a turn towards social, political issues, as well as a growing sensitivity towards the visible tensions in Hungarian political discourse. It does so through the analysis and the contextualization of two recent Hungarian independent theatrical productions. Studio K’s 2019 Sacra Hungarica is an in-your-face attempt to portray the current distortion of the language and the abuse language is used for, while Béla Pintér’s Blood Red, Off-White, Dark Green, a clever Oedipus Rex paraphrase that depicts marginalization, racism, and nationalism in a pointedly non-pc allegory.

The essay introduces the status of independent theatre vis-à-vis politics after 1989 and will delineate the changes the conservative governments brought into the alternative scene. Then, through an in-depth analysis of the above-mentioned two productions, it discusses the various means of theatricality they use to comment on contemporary Hungary.

References

Balme, Christopher B. The Theatrical Public Sphere. Cambridge University Press, 2014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139051668

Bazsányi, Sándor. “Újpesti Tzingáriász”. Revizor, 18 Oct. 2020. http://www.revizoronline.com/hu/cikk/8718/pinter-bela-vervoros-tortfeher-meregzold-szophoklesz-oidipusz-kiraly-cimudramaja-nyoman-ujpesti-rendezvenyter

Botham, Paola. “Contemporary (Debates) on Political Theatre: An Introduction.” World Political Theatre and Performance. Ed. Aragay Mireia, Paola Botham, and José Ramón Prado-Pérez. Leiden: Brill, 2020, pp. 117–129. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004430990_010

Dézsi, Fruzsina. “Az előjogokról. (A Magyar drama és színház tíz éve).” Alföld. http://www.alfoldonline.hu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/december_beliv_nyomdai.pdf

Gabnai, Katalin and Herczog, Noémi. “Áthallások?” Színház, Nov. 2020. http://www.szinhaz.net/2021/02/18/gabnai-katalin-herczog-noemi-athallasok/

Jákfalvi, Magdolna. “Kettős beszéd – egyenes értés (A Kádár-korszak színházáról).” Alföld 56.7 (2005): 65–76.

Kékesi Kun, Árpád. “A kilencvenes évek magyar rendezői színháza.” Tükörképek lázadása. Budapest: József Attila Kör – Kijárat, 1998, pp. 85–105.

Kling, József and Scheer, Katalin. “Hálás lehetek a hatalomnak – interjú Pintér Bélával.” Origo, 1 June 2014. http://www.origo.hu/kultura/20140530-interju-pinter-bela-szinesz-iro-rendezovel.html

Kovách, Imre, ed. Integrációs mechanizmusok a magyar társadalomban. Budapest: Argumentum, 2020.

Lengyel, Anna. “Pink Operettas and Political Games in Hungarian Theatre.” Theater 38.2 (2008): 2–4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/01610775-2007-027

Makrai, Sonja. “Pintér Béla: Megengedhetem magamnak a forrófejűséget.” Magyar Hang, 25 June 2019. http://www.hang.hu/kultura/pinter-bela-megengedhetem-magamnak-a-forrofejuseget-129530

Nagy, Klára. “Értelmiségi és jól szituált.” Színház 53.8 (2020). http://www.szinhaz.net/2021/01/03/nagy-klara-ertelmisegi-es-jol-szitualt/

Papp, Zsófia and Patkós, Veronika. “The Macro-Level Driving Factors of Negative Campaigning in Europe.” The International Journal of Press/Politics 24.1 (20 Oct. 2018): 27–48. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161218803426

Patkós, Veronika and Boda, Zsolt. “Driven by Politics: Agenda Setting and Policy-making in Hungary 2010–2014.” Policy Studies 39.4 (2018): 402–421. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2018.1478075

Pintér, Béla. Vérvörös, törtfehér, méregzöld. Final text, MS.

Szilágyi-Gál, Mihály. “Felforgatókönyv. Kontextus – A vicc nyelvétől a politikai kabaréig.” Színház, 2016. http://www.szinhaz.net/2016/05/18/szilagyi-gal-mihaly-felforgatokonyv/

Tompa, Andrea. “How Much Room? Aesthetics and Politics of Independent Performing Arts in Hungary”. New Performing Arts Practices in Eastern Europe. Ed. Iulia Popovici. Sibiu, International Theater Festival Book Collections, Cartier, 2014. http://www.academia.edu/10025714/Aesthetics_and_politics_of_independent_performing_arts_in_Hungary

Tompa, Andrea. “Hungarian and Independent. New Artists Bring New Forms of Existence.” Theater 38.2 (2008): 9–29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/01610775-2007-029

Tompa, Andrea. “Reality-Makers: Hungarian Independent Theater before and after Communism.” Staging Postcommunism: Alternative Theatre in Eastern and Central Europe after 1989. Eds. Warner S. Vesella and Diana Manole. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2020, pp. 3–16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvtxw2wz.5

Török, Ákos. “Fullba nyomni az antikot.” kutszelistilus.hu. http://www.kutszelistilus.hu/szinhaz/kritika/771-torok-akos-fullba-nyomni-az-antikot

Urbán, András and Kata Gyarmati. Sacra Hungarica. Final text, MS.