Bereczky Erzsébet (szerk.): Imre Madách: The Tragedy of Man. Essays about the ideas and the directing of the Drama (Budapest, 1985)
dr. Antal Németh: A Generation under the Spell of the Tragedy of Man
the realization of any aim, but this division, this duality, can be detected in each and every one of the historical scenes. Some momentums in the 1937 production convinced me that the more effective and illusion-inspiring a solution is, the more it diverts audience attention from the words. Thus, for instance, the portrayal of flight in the Space turned out too much of a success: spectartors flew, floated — and then crashed to Earth again together with Adam, and consequently no one paid attention during this unusual feat to the dialogue, although it was of key importance for fully understanding the Work. When I decided to put on the Tragedy on a tiny stage and without any technical tricks, I wanted to realize a production that concentrated only on the poetic message and gave absolute priority to the words. The artistic setting for the production was provided by rebuilding the stage of a chambertheatre in the form of an open tryptich, with only the changing 3-by-3 metre altar pictures painted in a modern imitation of Giotto’s and Cimabue’s style, suggesting the actual scene. Two pictures corresponding to the positive and negative sense of the scene divided into two each historical setting, and the interpretation of every detail was brought home to the audience by a Madách quotation inscribed on ribbons that traced the pictures. There were two niches — to the right and left of the tryptich - with the statue of Adam and Eve, and in this setting, the actors, wearing costumes and masks, celebrated as it were the rite of the Tragedy. In accordance with the style of playing required in a chambertheatre, we worked out subtly shaded acting performances that attended to every nuance. This took, of course, careful rehearsing and thorough text analysis. I shared out all the episode parts among 15 actors, and — on the roomsized stage — only symbolized the crowds, This extremely simplified style conveyed, indeed, Madách’s verse drama without any theatrical trimmings. (1967) 40
