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

Felhasznált irodalom

tion is different in the theatre: the play begins after the audience has been seated and the auditorium has been darkened. In the first stage of the dramatic curve, the exposition, the opening is marked by a small but vital peak. If the horizontal axis of diagram 3 shows the flow of time and the vertical axis shows the dramatic tension, then we can see that in the beginning of the play it is appropriate to immediately surprise our audience with a brief arousal of tension. After this is done, the introduction can follow. Let's see what's happening in the Rentheim family mansion on this winter evening. On the second floor a man is pacing, presumably the protagonist, the head of the family. He is surrounded by tension and he himself radiates disquiet and anticipation. In the living room on the first floor there is a woman, presumably the mistress of the house judging by her attire and domestic air. Cool and composed, she is the complete opposite of the person upstairs. She too is expectant as shown by a sudden tum of her head toward the sound of an approaching sleigh. Hearing a door burst open, she shouts a name: "Erhart." The question she poses to the maid reveals that it is her son that Mrs Borkman is eagerly awaiting, but instead a woman who is unknown to the maid has arrived. By the visitors calling card Mrs Borkman already knows what we will come to learn only later in the introduction, where the dramatic curve flattens again. This was the small peak of our curve, the arousal of tension in the opening scene. Why the anticipation on both floors of the house? Does the son's arrival make this a special night? And who is this woman who disconcerts the mistress of the house? From the approximately 2300 lines of the play, nearly 300 are used to acquaint us with the main characters. Strangely, it is from the twins' dialogue, and not through certain relationships of the protagonists, that we learn about the past of the Borkman family and the present relationships in the family. Returning to our previous discussion of dramatic and epic theory, we find that this "recounting" mode is strongly epic and undramatic. Also it is a bit too lengthy, although there is much information to be communicated. Ibsen, as well as many of his critics, celebrate as highly original the fact that the protagonist, Borkman, does not appear to the audience until the second act. For the first quarter of the play, we hear only his pacing on the second floor; he is discussed only by others who inform us of his actions during the previous 16 yeans. Nonetheless, it is a dramaturgical misstep to hide the main character in this way. At first the delay 67