 | Ferenc Molnár: Liliom |
(i.e. the document from 1909/16423)
Budapest at the beginning of the 20th century was a city of coffeehouses and prosperous bourgeois. The city was home to the first European underground railway system, it was illuminated by electricity, and the House of Parliament was built. People from everywhere visited its famous spas, cultural life was blooming, nightlife was restless. During that period lived and worked Ady, Babits, Kosztolányi, Krúdy, the founding generation of the Nyugat (lit. “West”) literary journal.
There was a growing interest towards theatre and literature. By that time there were 10 permanently working hungarian theatres in Budapest. The number of artisans and poor labourers in the city grew in parallel with the bourgeois class..
The classes’ common place of entertainment was the Városliget (lit. City Park), in its prime. Situated in the heart of city, the park was teeming with aristocrats on horsebacks, lively school children, strolling servants and soldiers, visitors of the zoo and amusement park, or with ice skating couples in the winter. The Liget (lit. Park) serves as a place of inspiration for several authors - Krúdy’s Sinbad and Babits’s loafers all spend some time here. Ferenc Molnár’s carousel barker, Liliom, had without doubt the brightest carrier among them.
Ferenc MOLNÁR (12th January 1878, Budapest – 2nd April 1952, New York): dramatist, writer, publicist. The 20th century Hungarian literatures most acknowledged author..
Molnár’s first internationally successful play was Az ördög (The Devil), which, following its premiere at the Vígszínház, was played in Vienna and in Italian theatres as well. In the same year he published the novel titled A pál utcai fiúk (The Paul Street Boys), a masterpiece of youth literature, which was later translated into several languages and was adapted for film in an Academy Award nominated American-Hungarian co-production, directed by Zoltán Fábri.
Liliom was written in 1909, but its staging in the National Theatre was a huge failure. A few decades later though the moving story of the warm-hearted carousel barker and his plain, but forever loving maidservant brought Molnár worldwide renown.
Liliom is a genre scene of Liget’s distressed, but – despite all their mischievousness – pure hearted figures. The play premiered in Vienna, was staged in 1921 in the United States, and later in London. Orson Welles also adapted it as a radio drama, taking on the title role himself. In 1934 Fritz Lang adapted it for film, later on it served as basis for the 1945 Broadway musical, Carousel.
The play, Molnár’s most debated but undoubtedly most successful piece was continuously present in 20th century theatres. In 2000 it was staged in Hamburg, in the Thalia Theatre under the direction of Michael Thalheimer. The Budapest Krétakör Theatre presented Liliom in 2001 under the direction of Árpád Schilling, and brought them several high ranked recognitions.
Gábor Rusznyák:
„I was interested to see how the story unfolds with only eight actors. Ferenc Molnár's drama tells the story of a short, self-governing, but also childishly good hearted, consequently ashamed man, who is incapable of showing his feelings, and that of a like-minded girl. Poverty, helplessness and two people who are madly in love, but can’t bring themselves to saying the simple phrase: I love you.
The gauntness is beneficial for the theme, it strips Molnár’s play of the syrupy gloss that could easily enclose it. The interesting merging of the roles reveals thus far hidden parallels.”
Directed by
Gábor Rusznyák
Stage and costume designer
Zsuzsanna Bagoly
Cast:
|
LILIOM |
Péter Fehérvári |
|
JULIKA – LUJZA – |
Margit Molnár g.s. |
|
MARI – (IN HEAVEN: BORISKA) |
Eszter Nagy |
|
MUSKÁTNÉ – SEN. JULI – |
Emília Polgár |
|
FICSÚR – POLICE CHIEF – |
Attila Péter Dávid |
|
HUGÓ – LINZMANN – |
Attila Nagy |
|
HOLLUNDER – THE OTHER POLICE OFFICER – (IN HEAVEN: KÁDÁR) |
László Szekrényes |
|
BUDA POLICEMAN – A POLICE OFFICER – |
László Bajkó |
