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
realm and was the influence of Max Reinhardt’s mystery plays in Salzburg. In 1926, again with the cooperation of stage designer Gusztáv Oláh, Hevesi used the same reconstructed three-part stage which had been used in 1876 by Otto Devrient in Goethe’s Faust to stage the Tragedy anew. The two flights of stairs on both sides of the scene were connected in the rear by a bridge and the changing historical periods were indicated by the changing backgrounds and minor props. This type of set without question facilitated the smooth movement of great crowds and ensured a continuous performance, shortening the time needed for scene changes. It is also beyond doubt that, in a sense, the Tragedy can be conceived of as a mystery play: it begins in Heaven; Scenes I, II and XV are based on the Bible and the conclusion shifts into the realm of the transcendental. It was in this sense and to this extent that Hevesi interpreted the Tragedy as a mystery play, although the work resists being classified as dealing with the philosophy of religion both in its entirety and in its details. It was in Szeged, a town in Southern Hungary that the idea of creating a „Hungarian Salzburg” came up with the Cathedral offering an appropriate background on the newly built Dorn Square. The suggestion was put forward by Ferenc Hont, a young director who had studied in France and who had been greatly influenced by Firmin Gémier’s People’s Theatre. It is perhaps understandable from the above why Hevesi initially opposed the production of the Tragedy in an open-air theatre. He felt no inherent connection between the open-air setting and the play. What is more, Hevesi who had always held Madách’s text in great respect, was afraid of a second-rate production and of a revival of Meiningenism. While the advocates of conservative and progressive theatrical interpretations of the Tragedy were conducting a passionate debate throughout Hungary, and while it was being performed time after time as a mystery play in Szeged, in Vienna, Madách’s work achieved prodigious, universal success in 1934, on the stage of the Brugtheater. Theatre manager Hermann Röbbeling directed the Tragedy as a part of the „Peoples’ Voice in Drama” series. When shortening the text, he deleted first and foremost those parts which were nearest to Goethe’s Faust. The performance lasted three and 27
