Saving the Cherry Orchard / Commemorating and Providing Value at the Joseph Katona Theater / PRAE.HU

Katuna Joseph Szenhaz is no stranger to plays in which people unable to relate to each other and lonely are presented as captives of their suffering. For example – also directed by Jakab Tarnóczi – Melancholy rooms Also presented such a position. the Cherry orchard However, although there can be a brooding over the problems, the actors can look for a solution to avoid the worst, the loss of the garden, but they are unable to face their fate or stand constructively with themselves.

For Juba (Eszter Ónodi), the cherry orchard is a place to remember and she wants to prevent logging with the loss of the orchard. He wants to preserve an important piece of the past for as long as possible. Facing problems is embodied in three characters who represent different strategies for life. Firsz (László Szacsvay) shows disregard for the knowledge of the elderly, Ánya (Rujder Vivien) draws attention to the unnecessary waste of money, and Jermolaj (Dávid Vizi) devises the economic construct through which the individual standard of living, despite the loss of values, is sustainable.

In Jakab Tarnutzi’s interpretation, the stage is empty, and the lack of a set does not harm the play at all. Apart from a long table, a few chairs, and a chandelier, there is nothing in the scene, the walls are those of Katuna. On the one hand, this void allows more opportunities for representation and text, and when combined with the use of a revolving stage, it can even evoke another piece of the stage in front of the viewer, Caucasian chalk circleto Theatrical picture (Kamra, directed by Kriszta Székely), where the scene is a wooden box on the almost empty revolving stage. Brecht’s drama, which has been on the air since 2017, also plays a role in the problem of preserving values, but the focus is not on material values, but on preserving morals and social responsibility. And this task exists even in situations where it is not beneficial to the individual from a material and social point of view – just as it is also not beneficial for the Ljuba to save the garden.

At one point in the play, a bystander enters the stage—an actor connected to the forty-year-old in some way, reinforcing the interpretation of the performance related to memory and value preservation. Who will take the stage in that role that night? Dorotea Odavaros, former founding member of the theatre? Pal Maxay, director of the Orkini Theatre, who follows a similar theatrical tradition, and who has previously played in several Katona? Or maybe someone else? Maybe even a surprise to the other actors.

The theater really wants us to compare the work with the current state of the theatre. The theater, which suffers from financial problems, presents a new theatrical show chosen after they had to close the show for financial reasons. Twilight of the Gods. Thus, Katuna will truly be The Cherry Orchard. In such a reading, another plot owner, Borisz (Elek Ferenc), represents another theater community, a theater always hoping for random grants of one kind or another, even though it’s always in need of money: “I never lose hope. The last time, too, I thought it was over, it was all over, all was lost, well, they didn’t bring the railroad through my land, … My hand struck a tidy sum. Yet, something will happen, If not today, then tomorrow … ” Katona’s troupe tries to continue performing in theatrical productions, regardless of the financial situation. And just as Lyuba guards valuables and trees until the last moment, even though she might save herself, the troupe runs on stage until they have to leave the cherry orchard.

In my writing, I quote the text translated by Janus Elbert.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: The Cherry Orchard
Translator: Giza Murexanyi

For Juba: Esther Onodi
Anya: Vivian Roger
Waiting for you: Anna Palmai
Leonid: Gergli Kocsis
Germology: David Veese
Petya: Pence Tsnady
Boris: Ferenc to you
Sarlotta: Judith Reese
Szemjon: Bernat Gloviczki eh
Denisa: Hanna Balous
Firsz: László Szacsvay
Jása: Pásztor Daniel eh
and passerby

Set design: Eszter Kálmán
Outfit: Eszter Kálmán
Playwright: Zofia Cook
Music: Levente Bencsik, Máté Hunyadi
Highlights: Tamas Panayi
Career Adviser: Tibor Varga
Assist: Anita Boncza
Supervisor: István Valovics
Assistant: Georg Tewald
Director: Jakab Trnuzzi

Presentation: April 22, 2023.
Joseph Katona Theatre

Photography: Judith Horvat, Joseph Katona Theatre