If a theatre company exhibits racist tendencies, should the government be allowed to intervene? Its something we don’t really think about right now in the U.S., as far as I know. If a theatre were racist, I would hope that it would simply get little to no support and subsequently tank. But in Hungary right now the question of government intervention into theatrical affairs is a hot button issue, one that spans from theatre to government to international relations.
Mayor of Budapest, Hungary, Istvan Tarlos, has moved to override the appointment of an artistic director at Budapest’s New Theatre, a theatre currently seeking to ban all non-Hungarian plays from its stage.
It seems like a bold intervention, until you learn that not only has Tarlos moved to quash this appointment, but was responsible for appointing the theatre’s new resident director just months earlier. This fact is what truly baffled me, much more so than the mayor’s intervention to stagnate racial tendencies. I was alarmed that the mayor would be responsible for an artistic appointment in any capacity. Valiant though his efforts to quell this situation seem, its actually Tarlos who fanned the flames in the first place.
Gyorgy Dorner was recently hired as the artistic director for the New theatre in Budapest, his employment sponsored by Tarlos. SO what’s the big deal? Well, unfortunately both Gyorgy Dorner and recently terminated artistic director-playwright Istvan Csurka are both members of a extremist right wing political party and have published anti-semetic literature, plays and displayed anti-semetic tendencies. Apparently when Tarlos appointed Dorner there was extreme public outcry. Subsequently Dorner went on to hire Csurka (who is also, coincidentally not only a member of the extremist party but a politician as well as a playwright) as artistic Director of the New Theatre.
Apparently TWO right wing extremists in ONE theatre is just too much for the public of Hungary (Can’t blame them there) and amid public pressure Tarlos moved to terminate Csurka’s position this week. However, in his termination of Csurka’s position he stated that Csurka’s plays would not be banned from performance at the theatre.
This is as far as the conflict has progressed, but it will be interesting to see what Dorner’s next move is. Perhaps he appointed Csurka in an effort to move the New Theatre towards a certain agreed upon political bent, but his plan has been foiled. Who will he appoint next? I’ll be very interested to see, also, what the theatre’s first production is in the aftermath of this conflict.
PLEASE WATCH THIS (“A neo-nazi theatre is being created.”) :
