Premiers - 2023/2024

A crossover folk opera. The lyrics were written by the play’s author Tamás Toót-Holló, the music was composed by Bálint Bársony and Norbert Elek. The play conjures up the world of ancient Hungarian beliefs, fairy tales, and the golden branches of the house of Árpád embracing Christianity: "it is more than a stage play, it opens up secrets, treasures and gates as you read", says director Attila Vidnyánszky who has created a spectacular performance in collaboration with the Hungarian National Dance Company.

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. 

National self-mutilation in a music-and-dance show, a.k.a. we have fun weeping or we weep having fun. This extraordinary theatre concert harks back to the 1920s and ‘30s, evoking the bygone atmosphere of post-Trianon Hungary through songs, literature and reminiscences lamenting the loss of territory. Following Thirteen Apple Trees, Hungary's 20th century Trianon story is back again on stage.

Is there still hope? Or does the darkness brought about by disasters, crises and upheavals swallow up the light? Raising cosmic questions, Shakespeare’s monumental tragedy examines the current state of our civilisation. As with REX last season, St Petersburg's Alexandrinsky Theatre director Valery Fokin has based his production of Shakespeare’s play on his son Kirill Fokin's adaptation.

A first premiere! Proud Rom Loiko Zobar falls for beautiful Roma Radda, only to find that overwhelming love shackles their independence and stands in the way of their freedom. The music and lyrics of this moving Gypsy ballad were written by Tamás Szarka, based on Maxim Gorky's story Makar Chudra. The show is a Hungarian National Dance Company and Karavan Theatre co-production.