Kovács Ferenc: Olvasópróba előtt (Skenotheke 1. Budapest, 1996)

Felhasznált irodalom

his father's sins, assists Frida in her studies and later sponsors her piano lessons, so that she can extricate herself from the poverty of an average family with many children. She has no dramatic relationship either to Erhart or to his father - we are not given as much as a hint concerning any kind of relationship she might or might not have with the masters of the house. There is a single instance, though, which may evolve into a dramatic situation-. Fanny takes Frida with her in order to provide Erhart with a substitute for herself in case she gets too old for him. TREATMENT (What follows are scenes without dialogue, as conceived by the director. The Roman numeral denotes the act, the first Arabic number denotes the geographical scene, the second Arabic number the scene, e.g. 1-1-1, which is the first act, first geographical scene - i.e. Borkman's room - and first scene. The end of a scene is marked by the exit or entrance of a character. The four-act play is remodelled into two acts.) Large, black and white photos of an outlying residential area of Oslo on a winter night greet the audience in the vestibule. The photos reveal mansions surrounded by huge gardens, trees and shrubbery covered in deep snow. On the main wall, opposite the entrance and beside the bar, the audience sees a photograph of a once opulent family home, which, however, has fallen into partial ruin. The fence is broken, the gate has collapsed. The photograph's caption reads: "The Borkman mansion." It is enveloped in silence and darkness and exhales an air of abandon. Nearby, another photograph shows a recently-built and lavishly-illuminated, pretentious mansion. There are torches by the gate, and both sides of the path leading up to the entrance are dotted by the twinkling light of candles. Recorded music and a jumble of indistinct voices accompany the photographs. A third photograph shows a sleigh with lighted torches moving down a residential street. The audience hears the sleigh, the pounding of horses' hooves and the jingling of bells. Sounds of snow flurries. It is a chilly, windy night. In the next photo there is an illuminated skating-rink with a few skaters with appropriate sounds. The audience enters the auditorium on either side of the photograph of the Borkman mansion. Thus the audience's last impression is of the silent, dark, and abandoned Borkman mansion, which stands in stark contrast to the animated streets filled with walking people and sleighs. 51