Alföldi was named to the post a the end of December, but he worked for half a year with the National Theatre's outgoing director Tamás Jordán, who will leave to lead the Weöres Sándor Theatre in Szombathely.
Hiller praised Jordán for recreating the National Theatre and leaving a legacy. He added that many were skeptical that Jordán and Alföldi could work together for six months, but they were proved wrong. Their example should be followed in other cultural institutions in Hungary, he said.
Jordán said the half year with Alföldi was "a very nice story".
"I won't say that we aren't anxious about the coming years, but we start with a great feeling of peace - thanks to the past half year," said Alföldi, adding that he wants to lead a theatre where "everybody finds something to satisfy his or her taste".
Alföldi said 18 actors were let go from the company, though they will continue to play their roles in productions this season carried over from previous seasons.
Alföldi dismissed speculation that the dismissals caused tension in the company.
"There was not a single conflict, not one bad word," he said.
From left to right: outgoing director of the National Theatre TamásJordán, Minister of Education and Culture István Hiller and the newdirector of the National Theatre Róbert Alföldi
The new members of the National Theatre troupe include Mari Nagy, from the New Theatre; Bori Péterfy and Roland Rába from the Krétakör troupe; and Zalán Makranczi, Kátya Tompos and Tünde Murányi from the Bárka Theatre, which Alföldi headed before he became director of the National Theatre. Other new members of the troupe are Eszter Bánfalvi, Ádám Földi, Krisztián Gergye, Réka Gerlits, Attila László, Bence Mátyássy, Piroska Mészáros, Péter Orth, Natasa Stork and Tamás Szabó Kimmel. Among the new members are five from this year's Gábor Zsámbeki class at the Theatre Academy as well as four graduates from last year's Ascher-Novák class.
"Sweeping out the theatre as a new director was a practise I didn't want to continue," said Alföldi. "The old productions will be taken out of the repertory when the audience decides. For this reason, most of the old productions are remaining," he said.
The first premiere of the National Theatre's 2008-2009 season will be a production originally by the Krétakör troupe of the controversial Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin's Ice. The play will be directed by Kornél Mundruczó. Also on the programme are productions of János Térey's new translation of Euripedes' Orestes and Pongrác's Kacsóh's musical John the Valiant. In March the theatre will show Botho Strauss's The Park, and the last performance of the season will be John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi.
Alföldi will direct three productions in the 2008-2009 season: Orestes, The Park and John the Valliant. He has chosen 13 actors from ethnic Hungarian regions outside of the country to put on a piece that has yet to be revealed. The Hungarian Theatre of Cluj-Napoca, in Romania, will also put on a performance of Uncle Vanya in October. And in December, the Comédie Francaise will perform a piece by Moliére.
As part of a six-evening readers theatre, Tom Waits' musical Black Rider will be performed.
Alföldi, born in 1967 in the town of Kalocsa, famous for its spicy paprika, did not see his first theatre performance - in the city of Kecskemét - until the age of eleven. He was turned on to the theatre and regularly went to performances in theatres outside of the capital in secondary school. After graduation, he was accepted at the Theatre and Film Arts Academy in Budapest, where he received his diploma in 1991.
In 1992, Alföldi became a member of the Vígszínház, where he remained until becoming an independent in 2000. He became director of the Bárka Theatre in 2006, and in December 2007 he was named to head the National Theatre.
Alföldi's experience as a director includes productions of plays, musicals, operettas, operas, puppet shows, dance performances, television shows and music videos. He has been a guest director in New York, Portland and Prague, as well as in cities around Hungary.
Alföldi has won numerous prizes for his work, including the Jászai Mari Prize - one of the highest awards for artists in Hungary - in 1995.
In addition to his success in the theatre, Alföldi is an accomplished painter who boasts several solo exhibitions.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Péter Kollányi (MTI)
