Goodwife Sára
A production by the Hungarian National Theatre and the Târgu Mureș Spectrum Theatre
The story of Goodwife Sára is the tale of a couple in the early nineteenth century with many children. The couple may seem quite everyday, but their Calvary and the culmination of their sufferings make their story almost an allegory or even a tale of historical significance.
Goodwife Sára and her husband György are burying their seventh child, little Michael. Sára has become indifferent. György is devastated. The prospect of having a child, which has been a blessing for others, for them has brought nothing but unending tragedy. The words of the reverend, who in principle is there to console them, become little more than a mechanical, self-serving speech. The merciful Lord seems to smite them like a vicious murderer. The physician’s ineptness almost ushers in death as if merely to confirm that no human being can do anything to help the grieving husband and wife.
And then, as if arriving at someone’s command, Bendegúz Demeter arrives, the enlightened young man, the grandson of the reverend, who proudly announces that he does not believe in God. The presence of this young revolutionary and his incendiary words make Sára falter in her faith. György struggles to cling to his faith, but the spirit of witchcraft drives the family towards instinctive pagan ideas. Godlessness begins to gain ground in the village. Goodwife Sára openly admits that she is no longer a member of the fold. She is locked in a battle with herself and with those around her as she searches among the ruins of her life for answers to the losses she has endured. Then she discovers she is pregnant again. She begins to prepare for a funeral, for she cannot imagine that fate will spare this baby either.
And yet who does she bring into this world? The answer revives her flagging faith, for she gives birth to János Arany, who will become one of Hungary’s greatest poets.
Playwright Sarolta Döbrentei has taken part in the creation of scripts for innumerable feature and television films. As a dramaturg, she has also contributed to the films Kincsem (“My Treasure,” a romantic adventure film) and Liza, a rókatündér (“Liza, the Fox Fairy,” an adventure-fantasy film).