Gogol’s well-known play (MARRIAGE) presents the amusing struggles of the young (or aging) characters who are about (or hesitating) to marry and the joyful pain of choosing a partner. Watching the funny moments and characters on stage, we laugh as we recognise our secret fears, desires and desperate efforts – eventually summed up in these words, “Thank you, mate. I've only just found out, at long last, what life is. A completely new world has opened up to me. Now I see that everything is moving, living, feeling, somehow almost steaming, and somehow you don't even know what's going on. Before, I didn’t notice anything like that, I mean...”
Before... At the time of the production's première in Berehove in March 2023, one year after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, “before” means before the war. The performance cannot pass by the changes transforming our world without reflecting on them in its own unique way. Its response to these challenging times is a wish for successful marriages, “Live in prosperity and bring a host of children into this world.”
Section: 30th Jubilee of Berehove Theatre
Hungarian theatre and opera director, teacher.
He was born in Berehove (Ukraine) in 1964.
He graduated in Hungarian literature and linguistics from Uzhhorod State University (1985). He taught literature and history for two years. In 1992, he graduated in theatre directing from the Karpenko-Kary State Academy of Theatre and Cinema in Kyiv.
In 1993, he founded his own company, the Gyula Illyés Hungarian National Theatre in Berehove, of which he is still the Principal Director.
In 2004, he was appointed Principal Director of the Hungarian State Opera House. In 2006 - 2013, he was Director of the Csokonai National Theatre in Debrecen.
Since 2013, he has been the Director General of the National Theatre. In 2014, he founded the National Theatre's MITEM festival (Madách International Theatre Meeting).
Since 2023, he has been a member of the International Theatre Olympics Committee and Artistic Director of the 2023 Budapest Theatre Olympics.
He has also directed at the National Academic Theatre in Kyiv (Leszya Ukrayinka Theatre), the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St Petersburg) and the Hungarian State Opera House.
His performances have toured Europe from Stockholm to Moscow and Tbilisi, from Strasbourg to Nancy and Kyiv.
He has received many awards, including Ukraine's Artist of Merit (2002), the Meyerhold Prize (2009, Moscow) and the Kossuth Prize (2011).
His films include Liberté 56, The Boy Who Turned into a Deer.
He has taught acting at the Karpenko-Kary State Academy of Theatre and Cinema in Kyiv and at the University of Kaposvár. Since 2020, he has been the master of a directing class at the University of Theatre and Film in Budapest.
He has been a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts since 2005. In 2008, he co-founded the Hungarian Theatre Society and has been its President since. Between 2010 and 2013, he also served as Chairman of the Theatre Arts Committee under the Minister of Human Resources. Since 2020, he has been Chairman of the Board of the foundation operating the University of Theatre and Film in Budapest.
