Published in October 1844, The Hammer of the Village was Sándor Petőfi's first book. The work, which Petőfi called a heroic poem, was not a success. Years later, the publisher was still stuck with unsold copies, and it was omitted from the Complete Poems in 1847. What may have been the reason? Perhaps, it was that this comic poem set out not only to parody the genre, but also to mock the lofty and manneristic stage-nationalist poetry of the era, which may have seemed too cheeky to the contemporaries of this young man who had just been promoted to assistant editor. It became all the more successful later on, as the public came to accept its humour, irony, grotesquely bloated imagery and the mock-pathetic tone of its brilliant hexameters.
“Beside the poem's charm and humour, this production is also about the Berehove company, i.e. that theatre is a means of cultural survival. We do not rearrange Petőfi's poem, but we start from the premise that the members of this company are sitting here with their suitcases because of the war and cannot be at home. Petőfi, who appears on stage, quotes from the Transcarpathian passages of his Travel Letters and we think of home... This is a playful and free performance – says director Attila Vidnyánszky.
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.
