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The English language issue of the professional journal of the National Theatre in Budapest has been composed for the guests of the Theatre Olympics and MITEM 2023. The World Theatre and Theory block draws attention to Hungarian-language theatrical publications released for the event, the authors of which will also be present as creators in the programme. In the Madách 200 block, the writings are intended for the participants of the international Az ember tragédiája – The Tragedy of Man project. Our other compilation offers an insight into the directorial work of Attila Vidnyánszky.

According to the “astro-mythological” interpretation by Gábor Pap, Az ember tragédiája (The Tragedy of Man) by Madách reaches its nadir in the axial Paris scene (Scene 9), the apocalyptic judgement situation of the Libra decan of Aquarius, which, however, does not appear on the everyday level but as a vision, as a dream within a dream.

If I manage to stay on my own in the “lion’s cave” of the castle in Sztregova, I always attempt the impossible: I am trying to imagine, to fathom, to experience how, for thirteen months, Imre Madách was receiving the impulses to write his work.

As can be seen from the bibliography of translations compiled by Mihály Praznovszky and published in the volume titled Madách Színről színre (Madách Scene by Scene), there are basically three variations to encounter on the title of Madách’s The Tragedy of Man: one is “the tragedy of mankind” (in English, Polish, Russian, Romanian and Danish) or “the tragedy of the human” (in Norwegian, Italia and Russian) or the “human tragedy” (in Finnish); then the “sad human song” (in Armenian), “the destiny of man” (in Japanese); and the “vision of Adam” (in Hebrew)

Az ember tragédiája (The Tragedy of Man), born at the end of the period of general despair over the fall of the 1848–49 Revolution and War of Independence and at the beginning of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise bringing about a decade of development, is the most well-known work of Hungarian dramatic literature abroad.

Csíksomlyói passió by the National Theatre in Budapest premiered in the Csíksomlyó mountain saddle on August 18, 2018.

In professional theatre circles, it is now a commonplace that in the post-dramatic era the classic conflict between heroes disappeared from the stage, and with it, the legitimacy of the dramatic dialogue also ceased to exist.

The Tragedy of Man on Hungarian stages for 140 years. Selection from the photo archive of the Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute (OSZMI)

Towards the end of The Tragedy of Man, Adam, the first man, encounters the survivors of humanity – beyond the concluding catastrophe of world history, beyond the destruction of the natural environment, and also beyond a wave of population explosion that already equals extinction.

Imre Madách (1823–1864) started to work on the final version of his ‘dramatic poem’ of humanity in his very remote home, Alsósztregova, in 1859, exactly ten years after the defeat of the Hungarian war of independence.