Budapest’s Radnóti Theatre, with Director Csaba Horváth, has put on a production of the Ancient Greek tragedy Orestes, with a somewhat modern visual spin. Written by Euripides in 408 BCE, the play explores the lasting impact of blood feuds and the necessity of replacing these with a modern civic legal process. The play focuses on the concept of earthly justice […]
Józsefváros, otherwise known as Budapest’s 8th district, has long been one of the most multicultural boroughs in the Hungarian capital. In the early twentieth century, it was home to thousands of rural Jews who moved to Budapest and tried to make a living at the Teleki Square fruit and vegetable market. It has also long boasted a large Gypsy (Roma) […]
“There’s a country (namely, Hungary), which ever since the late 19th century has had a habit of ridding itself of entire sections of its population. If the targeted groups don’t realize what’s going on quickly enough and if they don’t flee, then their homeland may end up murdering them”–thus begins Örkény Theatre’s summary of its newest play, entitled “This Land […]
Budapest’s National Theatre (Nemzeti Színház) is marking the hundredth anniversary of the First World War I with a play based on a largely unknown piece written by Ferenc Molnár (1878-1952). The early twentieth century author is a household name in Hungary, thanks in large part to his coming-of-age novel, The Paul Street Boys (1907), which is essentially canonical young adult […]
Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz’s piece Operetta is all about deception in the world of theatre. It’s a sharp, witty and sexually-charged play, which ultimately parodies the world of operettas. The play was first performed in 1969 in Italy, shortly after Mr. Gombrowicz’s death. In 1966, Mr. Gombrowicz had the following to say about the world of the performing arts: “Theater […]
HFP reader István Zöld responds to our piece on “Kádár kocka” architecture: This is beyond ridiculous. For a start, these houses are not cubic. Then their architecture has nothing to do with the Kádár era. They are typical East European rural homes, and they were around well before World War II. So it’s wrong to imply their structure was somehow imposed […]
A new book by photographer Katharina Roters explores an often neglected form of architecture unique to socialist era Hungary and one that is simply known as “The Cube” (or Kádár kocka). The Cube is perhaps so often neglected simply because it is incredibly ubiquitous throughout the country, especially when it comes to housing constructed shortly after World War II. Yet what made […]
Robin Williams, a comic and sitcom star, an Oscar-winning dramatic actor, died at the age of 63. He appears to have committed suicide. The news truly rocked North-America, television channels broke into their usual programming to make the announcement, and the news dominated online trending topics. Mr. Williams was a comic genius, a star of both movies and television for […]
We regretfully announce that DunaDOCK will not present its MasterClass program at the Jameson CineFest International Film Festival in Miskolc this September.To our greatest surprise we found out that CineFest can only host our professional program if it does not contain – contrary to our plans – any film dealing with the topic of Roma in Hungary, or if it […]
Bea Gergely, a Budapest-based freelance photo reporter, attended Orlai Produkció’s adaptation of Amadeus, a play by British playwright and screenwriter Sir Peter Sheffer. The play offers the audience a fictionalized version of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s life. The narrative is told from the perspective of fellow composer Antonio Salieri who — as a devout Catholic and as someone who is highly envious […]
