King Stephan

Published in 1934, this tragedy presents the protagonist with a dilemma that resonates through the ages: whether to bequeathe his throne to the foreign but Christian Pietro Orseolo or to the Hungarian but pagan Vazul. Must we always choose between East and West? According to director Nándor Berettyán, Piarist monk and poet Sándor Sík’s play is ever-topical and needs no updating, since the king’s succession problem raises the fateful question that has faced Hungarians over the past thousand years.