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T h e...N A T I O N A L...D R A M A...A N D...T H E A T R E...S E L E C T I O N |
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Sterijino Pozorje Festival |
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Novi Sad |
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May 26th - June 5th 2008 |
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MONDAY - JUNE 2nd 2008 |
The Novi Sad Theatre–Újvidéki Színház |
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19:00 |
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TUESDAY - JUNE 3rd 2008 |
The Novi Sad Theatre–Újvidéki Színház |
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19:00 |
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WEDNESDAY - JUNE 4th 2008 |
The Novi Sad Theatre–Újvidéki Színház |
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19:00 |
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| Richard O'Brien
The ROCKY HORROR SHOW
The Novi Sad Theatre – Újvidéki Színház, Novi Sad |
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Director
VIKTOR NAGY
Accompanist ÉVA LIGETI
Set designer ÉVA SZENDRÉNYI
Costume designer KÁTA HORVATH
Choreographer
ILDIKÓ LAVRO-GYENES
Assistant to choreographer MÁRTA KELEMEN
Assistant do director
JUDIT FERENC
Translation GÖRGY GEBORA
Premiere:
October 27th 2007 |
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Dr. Frank-N-Furter |
ÁRON BÁLAZS |
Brad Majors |
ISTVÁN KÖRÖSI |
Janet Weiss |
ANDREA JANKOVICS |
Magenta |
EMINA ELOR |
Riff-Raff |
ANDOR KOVÁCS NEMES |
Eddie |
ATTILA GIRICZ |
Columbia |
ÁGOTA FERENC |
Dr. Everett V. Scott |
ATTILA MAGYAR |
Rocky Horror |
DÁNIEL HUSZTA |
Criminologist |
MELINDA JASKOV |
Ralph |
ZOLTÁN SIRMER |
Betty |
MARGARÉTA TÁBOROSI |
Chorus |
Tamás Varga, Emina Elor, Attila Német, Ágota Ferenc, Zoltán Sirmer, Margaréta Táborosi, Andor Kovács Nemes, Laura Tóth, Gábor Pongó, Judit Lászlo, Róbert Molnár, Izabella Pfau |
Recorded music by: |
Szilveszter Jenei, József Margit, Béla Gyenes, Ferenc Szabó |
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| The NOVI SAD THEATRE - ÚJVIDÉKI SZÍNHÁZ, NOVI SAD |
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| The Novi Sad Theatre - Újvidéki Színház was founded by the decision of the Novi Sad City Assembly from 1st June 1973. The first performance - Cats’ Play by István Örkény directed by Tibor Vajda - was staged on 27th January 1974. Until 1985 the Theatre staged its performances at the Novi Sad Tribina mladih in Katolička porta, moving afterwards to its permanent house - the former playhouse ‘Ben Akiba’. This experimental city chamber theatre did not have its permanent ensemble until 1977; actors and directors were engaged on contract for each project. The theatre gradually established its troupe which has never had more than 15 members or a permanent director.
The theatre produces five premiers a year and runs the same number of plays from earlier seasons. Its famous plays are Play Strindberg (Direnmat), Waiting for Godot (Beckett), Tango (Mrožek), and Chekhov’s Trilogy (Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanja) directed by György Harag. The Novi Sad Theatre - Újvidéki Színház has hosted directors such as Ljubomir Draškić, Ljuboslav Majera, Radoslav Milenković, as well as Miklós Jancsó.
They have won a number of awards at festivals for small, alternative and experimental theatres in our country and abroad.
The Novi Sad - Újvidéki Színház has participated in Pozorje three times: 1993 - Attila Faragó, The Cripple, directed by Béla Merő; 2000 - János Szíveri, Taming, directed by Kinga Mezei (Sterija’s Awards for: Stage Music Szilárd Mezei; Stage Movement Kriszta Szorcsik and Gábor Nagypál); 2001 - Hair, directed by Viktor Nagy (outside of competition, in honour of the award winners). |
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P E R F O R M A N C E...... |
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What is very significant is that the Devil is a hermaphrodite, with underscored strong Sexus. That is why a human pair stands before him. The Devil is the original sin. Of power. How this sin depends on Sexus, we do not know; we only know such dependency exists.
Sexus is some dark magical menace everyone feels. But to no avail. The man and woman are tied to this dependency with a noose around their necks.
If this human pair stays living in bisexuality, they will end up in Hell. That much we know. The majority of marriages prove that. What should be done is make the marriage between people be under the flag of androgyny. Any demon should be rejected. Since this matrix is a matrix of demons. And that means the temptation of fear, primal fear. For here, they really have something to be afraid of. This is a matrix of sin and crime, and at the same time also of the gullible, who says that evil is not real. This darkness and obscurity and uneasiness and guilty conscience, sleepless nights, signs of delusions. All secret activities from the circle of Sexus belong here, especially its gaudiness and seductiveness. Faustus sees that the Devil never stops tempting. One should not hide before the Devil. On the contrary, one should step forward and meet him. If a man meets him, he is disappointed. He is unbelievably boring and tacky. The Devil fears those who do not fear him.
Béla HAMVAS |
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S E L E C T O R ' S...R E P O R T...... |
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Drawing its thirty-year-old charisma from an effective energetic juncture of rock’n’roll and theatre, musical and science fiction, hidden biblical motive and quite an open psychedelics, O’Brian’s musical Rocky Horror Show has so far had a number of important transmutations, in theatre and outside of it. Since its London premiere, back in 1973, it has undergone numerous stage renewals, including a paradigmatic one on Broadway in 2000, featuring the cast of Dick Covet, Susan Sarandon, Joan Jet and Meatloaf. Then it went on to move into the spheres of movies, video games, interactive Internet products, and now we have an opportunity to see how this old pop-cult product exemplarily reveals yet another fresh and young face on the stage of the Novi Sad Theatre. The guest from Hungary, director Viktor Nagy, has cleverly stuffed it in a stage-capsule with a few magnificent set and other figures of the same sort, from which, through dance, excellent acting and singing solos performed by Áron Bálazs, Emina Elor, Andor Kovács Nemes, Andrea Jankovics, István Körösi, and remarkable contribution of everyone on the stage, we are presented with a sparkly, unusual experience, which is worth more enjoyed live, than analytically dragged through a text of this sort. At the same time, this is a new, powerful testimony of the continuity of the highly meaningful work dedicated to theatre in a still young company, who gives their maximum season after season, in spite of the constant ‘drain’ of some of its leading actors, the bearers of this success.
Vladimir KOPICL |
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RICHARD O'BRIEN
(Richard Timothy Smit) Born in Cheltenham, England, Richard Smith's family moved to Tauranga, New Zealand, in 1951 when his father, an accountant, decided to become a sheep farmer. Watching horror and science-fiction double features in nearby Hamilton, Smith added an interest in acting to his love of rock and roll. He moved back to England in 1964, tried singing, then became a movie stuntman and fringe theater actor. He changed his name to O'Brien (his beloved maternal grandmother's name) one day while on the phone to British Actors Equity, to avoid confusion with another Richard Smith. He met director Jim Sharman in 1972, when Sharman cast him in the dual roles of Apostle and Leper for the London stage production (transferred from Sharman's native Australia) of Jesus Christ Superstar. Working again with Sharman on a production of Sam Shepard's The Unseen Hand, O'Brien mentioned a new rock musical he'd been writing called Rock Horror. The play went into rehearsals as "They Came from Denton High," and at Sharman's suggestion, was retitled The Rocky Horror Show before opening in June 1973. |
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VIKTOR NAGY
Born in Dombovar, Hungary, in 1954, Viktor Nagy was admitted to the Pecs Conservatory in 1968, where he became interested in theatre and film. He started writing dramas, working with amateur troupes and directing amateur documentaries. In 1973 Viktor Nagy continued his studies at the ‘Franc List’ Music Academy in Budapest, and then went to work in Pécsvárad and became a member of the Pecs Philharmonics. In 1983 he was admitted to the Academy of Drama and Film, the Section for Theatre Directing, studying the theory of music and piano at the Music Academy as well. In 1988 he became a director for the Madách Theatre, where he directed prose and music pieces. He began directing operas in the Hungarian National Opera, at the Szeged Open-Air Festival and other theatres. From 1991-1994 he was the leading director for the National Opera and a lecturer at the Academy of Drama and Film. He has staged a number of operas in Hungary and abroad, among which are Carmen starring Hose Carreras in Stuttgart, Aida at the Szeged Open-Air Festival.... His name is associated with the production of Ring which was played in Budapest for ten years, non-stop, then Vojcek, Adrianne Lecouvreur, La Cenerentola, the Pecs Faustus and many others. His graduation work, Tosca, has been on the repertoire of the Hungarian National Opera since 1988. He is a regular guest-director of the Novi Sad Theatre - Újvidéki Színház, where he has staged several musicals - The Starmakers, Hair, Chicago, Brave New World. |
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What should be known about ‘The Rocky Horror Show’?
The fact that this is a horror parody is not important. Neither is the fact that it is science fiction. It was written a long time ago, so it has no current message. But there is something very important in it: something viciously asexual. Neither a woman nor a man, yet it can still seduce everyone. And this story speaks of the corruption and seduction of a human couple. Like in the Bible. The evil-wicked deceives, promises the world, tempts whenever the slightest chance occurs: come on, take the apple, you’ll see how smart you will become...as it says; and come on, have a drink, you’ll see how good it will be...
That is the reason why Frank, the lead character, is a transvestite, neither a woman nor a man, and yet he still corrupts everyone. He is the Biblical Snake. Surely, he has come from the Transylvanian Galaxy, and that is why he is a transsexual being. In fact, this implies Dracula and is in the function of the parodistic feature of the play... And Frank works on creating a beast - a human being (Frankenstein)...
Viktor NAGY |
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The Horror Show in Arena
The Novi Sad Theatre production, The Rocky Horror Show, although premiered only recently, has already became a real hit. Tickets for this show are always sold-out for months in advance, a fact which obviously speaks for itself. The effective, colourful and shiny production speaks volumes about the work of its director Viktor Nagy and choreographer Ildikó Lavro-Gyenes. (...)
The play poses question in such a way that we do not even notice. We put ourselves into their shoes - basically, the situation when you are in the middle of nowhere and your car breaks down so you have to knock on a stranger’s door to seek help can happen to anybody; as well as the possibility of encountering a very unusual world within the walls of such a home. And finally, to have many of our accepted values shifted up or down, when we get to know such a world. But the process of pre-evaluating things causes changes in the personalities of the two protagonists: the value systems are shattered, twisted by the realisation that there are other lifestyles and worldviews, new systems of relationships between people. That is how they gradually find themselves in a basically unsafe situation, in which nothing is black and white any more; everything is permeated with colours, nuances, personal attitudes. Not even good can be just good, just like evil is not just evil.
Evil, in its facelessness, nakedness and simplicity unnoticeably takes possession over the two main protagonists and begins to guide them. By this we are once again confronted with ourselves, because we encounter this kind of a problem every day of our lives. If we are lucky, of course. For if we confront them, then we are somehow aware of all of this, but the problem is that it happens that we are imperceptibly possessed by evil unfortunately much more often than not. During the play a spectator forgets that what we are dealing with is a parody. The narrator is the one who reminds us again and again, since the character shaped by Melinda Jaskov in this role is (or could be) a parody in itself. The show abounds in great acting creations. It is a pleasure to watch István Körösi and Andrea Jankovics, in the roles of Janet and Brad, in the field where they feel at home: in a musical. Emina Elor even made up to be ugly and lame like this, still seems striking; her numbers are, together with those of Andor Kovács-Nemes, breathtaking. Áron Bálazs balances through nuances of his role which not only offers, but simply forces on false acting, but he succeeds in escaping this trap, and he does not step over the boundaries set forth. Dániel Huszta in the role of Rocky is a bit rawer, louder, but it is consistent with the character, rendering his role new meanings. The characters shaped by Ágota Ferenc, Attila Magyar and Attila Giricz carry strong parodic features, which allows them to exist on the level of pure elements of atmosphere. (...)
The attractive choreography and skilful composition of dynamic movements with elements of light can sometimes turn the otherwise very restricted stage into a real arena, which is furthered by an auditorium made especially for this play. The set is designed in many layers and therefore well-adapted to the atmosphere of the different scenes. What at one moment is still just a space of everyday life, at the next moment becomes the setting of a futuristic show. There will surely be those who think that the show is not good enough - those whose appreciation of theatre depends solely on how realised the preconception of artistic values is, which is most often just pretentious, abstract and ultimately incomprehensible for the average spectators; but if we get rid of the often more enforced than real poses, you should admit that one of the main achievements of this show is the fact that it does not attempt to be more than it really is. It does not want to coat itself in some coloure locale, it does not insist on some domestic voice, it does not want to reach deep soul-spiritual and high mental layers - it simply wants to be what it is, to stay its own: a cheerful, musical, visually attractive and entertaining production. Curiously, it is this positively taken nakedness, a look in the mirror, that succeeds in the hidden attempt to make its spectators think about the problems it focuses on, yet not with a force of obligation, but by simply offering a possibility - it is always up to a spectator to decide; and whatever the decision is, he/she will come out of the theatre enriched by the meaningful experience, and that is perhaps the very reason why The Rocky Horror Show of the Novi Sad Theatre has become a master play.
Endre MÁRIÁS |
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.The
management preserves the right to change
the schedule
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Copyright
: Sterijino pozorje 1998-2008.
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