You once said that one of the reasons you had left the Katona Theatre was that it was easy to get lost in a large company. And you would only get yourself noticed when really necessary. Does this apply to you as a director as well?
Indeed, it was typical of me that I would not move around unnecessarily, partly because it?s easier that way. The idea of directing only came after Róbert Alföldi offered me a contract here and then in a natural and easy-going way he offered me a play to adapt on the stage. It?s terrible to think that if it had been left up to me, I would not have pushed this issue. Yet, as you get older, you realise that you bear a responsibility and perhaps you should say what?s on your mind in certain issues concerning the theatre, especially in the current situation. But this is difficult because you cannot see an example of ways to bring up such issues, how people and ideas should be represented other than when chatting with others at the cafeteria.
Was The Miser your choice or did you also get it from Alföldi?
When we discussed next season at around this time last year, it was one of the plays that came up as a possibility and it appealed to me.
Just asking because this is your third Moliére play. Are you attached to him more than to other playwrights?
I was just telling a journalist yesterday that the last time I had been in a Moliére was at the academy. Only after I got the transcript of the interview did I realise that I had been silly, since I had played Tartuffe and also Célim?ne. I simply did not remember them. Yet, they were interesting projects. And I can still say that.
The Miser could easily be approached these days from the perspective of current politics. The Swiss franc loans and the economic crisis. Should we expect such things in the play?
I?ve also been attracted to this play because our everyday lives these days are so much concerned with what will happen with money. However, Swiss franc loans will not be discussed in it because it will be a more traditional performance. The play does not actually say that within a few days, our money will be worthless. It?s more about this obsession and craze that surrounds money these days. There is something sick about it when we do not know whether everything will collapse ? today you still have a few hundred thousand forints in the bank and tomorrow you may only be able to buy an egg with it. This bizarre situation is there also in The Miser.
When you started directing, you said you still kept thinking with the head of an actor. Does that still apply?
The little interplays that go on between actors are most important to me, I?m thinking along those lines. Once, a director colleague watched a I play I directed and asked me: ?But where are you in it? Your own motifs, the darkness. Why is it never dark?? And I would reply: What concerns me most is that the actors should feel good and understand the situations they are in.
I?m surprised about what you?re saying. Because you do place an emphasis on making a powerful effect with the help of form as well. One can think of the stripped-to-the-bone setting of Good Evening Summer, Good Evening Romance or the ?tribal? motif system in Yerma.
I can never think in terms of pre-manufactured sets, which are not yet ready and present. I can only think in terms of what I?m in. Róbert Menczel has been the set designer for Yerma, for Good Evening Summer, Good Evening Romance and also now for The Miser. He is able to start work along these lines. The bleakness fits Good Evening? very will because that entire age, I can still remember, was also bleak. And I thought the Radnóti Theatre looked like a cave which was a good starting point for Robi. You get your initial inspiration from the location. That?s why it?s good to direct just one play at every location. Because for the second one, it could not be a cave anymore. Then we would need stage sets.
In the National Theatre you have already directed a play on the studio theatre stage, as well as on the big stage. Does that mean that now you?re in trouble?
Yes, I?m in trouble. The space has now become a circle. Of course there have also been financial considerations for eliminating the set, because of the cuts. But one can turn that to the play?s advantage. I?m not an expensive director, anyway. Even if the plays I directed had no other virtues, I could still say that they have been the cheapest. It?s really fantastic that in a theatre you can occupy yourself with thinking where a heap covered by a piece of plastic or a pile of rubber waste should be located on the stage. We would have very serious discussions with Gábor Zsámbéki about these topics at the academy. ?Why did you open the fire hydrant? Why did you enter where you did?? It really appealed to me at that time. I realised: indeed, theatre is no fooling around, it?s a serious business. If we stop thinking very seriously even for a short time, all our efforts may become futile.
Recently, you seemed to have fewer big roles than in the past. Are you happy with that?
Yes, very happy.
Do your directing efforts set the balance?
There is no such balance in me. I keep myself busy, there are things for me to do and I do not miss the acting. If you are only an actor, you are more vulnerable because new roles must keep coming for you to feel needed, and it?s important for everyone to feel that. I do not miss that these days because I also have other work to do. Acting is a matter of character, it was interesting to realise that as a director. This way, it?s much easier to accept myself also as an actor. There are certain roles that I?m suitable for and others that I?m not suitable for. It?s not necessarily because of my skills but because of my looks. The reasons why one does not get a role are usually much simpler than you would first think. This is on the one hand reassuring but it?s also quite terrible. If you are a bald and stocky guy and want to play hero characters, you will be in trouble.
After playing Tartuffe, you said it was not worth staying at the Katona because of that role for one more year. Because you had expected that the play would show you who you really were but it did not. Being a director, are you closer to getting an answer?
As a young man playing Tartuffe, I still battled with a lot of insecurities and a sense of insufficiency despite being in a very good position. I was unable to tell why I was not happy despite having every reason to be happy. Since then, I?m more content. I?m not bothered anymore with ?who I am? but what interests me more is who the others are. As you get older, you realise that life is very short and this place where we live is huge. There are several hundred million galaxies around and I find this comforting. So that I know where I belong and I am not panicking about who I am.
When Krétakör disbanded, some people said Árpád Schilling wanted the actors to start creating performances. Did you not think at the time: ?ok then, if that?s what he wants, why should I not direct.?
Interestingly, no. Laziness was stronger in me than determination. And I did not want to take responsibility. When you stand on the stage, then you have a script, so that?s a different situation. But in addition to making us more creative, Árpád also wanted us to face the question: what sense does it make to work together. Why are we doing it? This was a tricky question because it immediately forced you to think about what you wanted to do as an actor. It is a special profession, like a doctor?s, a teacher?s or a policeman?s. If you are a policeman, do you really live that way? Do you never cheat, never lie and never harm anyone? Do doctors always pay attention to other people? That?s what they are expected to do. It?s similar with actors. You play in dramas that make you contemplate and warn you about the ways of life, make you realise that you may be in a filthy situation or have bad traits. And indeed it may often apply to you personally. To me that was the main message of Árpád?s questions. And also: what use do these performances have? Should they function as examples and teachings to viewers? But the issues we talk about in the performances do not reach the persons being investigated: those who cripple others and those who get crippled. That?s also what Lessing has written [he says paging through a notebook in his lap] ?The Miser has never ever improved a real miser. But it is enough to make the healthy even healthier, even if one fails to heal those that are despairingly ill. Prevention is also a valuable method towards achieving health.?
Being a former Krétakör member, what do you think about the situation of independent theatres?
It is strange to see that some serious theatre people really think there is no compelling work going on in independent theatres. Yet, those who say that used to participate in the work of such theatres in the past. The gap between traditional theatres and the independents is getting wider. It?s time to hit on the table. But it would be rather strange having to fight against colleagues.
Interviewer: Bálint Kovács / Photo: Bence Kovács
