Bereczky Erzsébet (szerk.): Imre Madách: The Tragedy of Man. Essays about the ideas and the directing of the Drama (Budapest, 1985)
dr. Ferenc Kerényi: A Dramatic Poem from Hungary to the Theaters of the World
actors. At this point a special feature of the casting possibility can be pointed out: by a judicious distribution of the many parts in the episodes, by entrusting several roles to one and the same actor, the director can always transform this liability into an asset. This can be aptly illustrated by an example from a later scene. At the end of Scene VI (Rome) Adam is captivated by the new ideal of Christianity, only to be disillusioned by the events of the Crusades in Scene VII, which takes place in Byzantium. The significance of this conflict can be greatly influenced by the casting if the role of Peter the Apostle, who in the Roman scene proclaims the virtues of Christianity, is played by the same actor in the Byzantine scene who demands the burning of the heretics at the stake, this reversal and mockery of the former ideals strengthens Adam’s feeling of disenchantment. Another approach would be to entrust Peter’s role to the same actor who plays the heretic burnt at the stake in Scene VII, emphasizing the survival of the new ideal, as a contrast to Adam’s disenchantment. In scenes IV—XIV, for example, Lucifer appears, so to speak, as the director of Adam’s visions, not merely by inducing him to sleep, but also in the various scenes themselves. The script - reduced to the length of an average theatrical performance after the necessary deletion of various narrative parts — still contains more than 4100 lines of poetry. Brilliant possibilities abound for the director’s interpretation, for the scenic visualization and for the exploitation of the already-mentioned actors’ potential. In the various historical scenes, the drama revolves around the great ideals of Mankind — liberty, equality, fraternity — as seen throughout history: their antecedents in antiquity, their synthesis in the 18th century and their annihilation in the 19th century and in the vision of the future. Having drawn on the works of French romantic historians for depicting the ancient antecedents of this trinity of ideals, Madách develops it on three levels. The ethical problem involved in the actions of the individuális seen through Adam’s concrete, historical personalities of ancient Egypt, Athens and Rome. A higher level of collective interests is represented by the former slaves turned influential citizens of Athens. And finally, the masses appear in the form of the mute multitudes of early 14
