It has been revealed whether there is a person primarily responsible for the accident at the National Theatre.
On November 10, Júlia Szász and Ottó Lajos Horváth had an accident during the Romeo and Juliet performance. Taking responsibility, Attila Vidnyánszky immediately submitted his resignation, which, however, was not accepted by the Minister of Culture and Innovation, János Csák. He justified his statement by saying that the results of the official investigation must be waited for, and a decision can only be made after that. The investigation into the circumstances of the accident was concluded, and the director of the National Theater presented its results in an exclusive interview, indicating that he had withdrawn his resignation. In the meantime, the ministry's statement also revealed that János Csák accepted the withdrawal of his resignation.
The results of the investigation into the accident at the National Theater can be summed up in one sentence: individual responsibility cannot be established, Vidnyánszky stated, adding that the unfortunate turn of events resulted in the unfortunate events.
"I'm glad that this was the result of the investigation, because it would have hurt a lot if one of my colleagues had been directly responsible."
"The theater is a dangerous business. Obviously, it is the director's and the director's responsibility to minimize the possibility and number of risks, but they cannot be completely eliminated, and the actors must learn to use each set," said the director.
The investigation covers the risk of sinking stage elements, which are rarely used in Romeo and Juliet.
These in themselves are much more dangerous than the set of the show itself. Many questions arise - not only in the National Theatre, but also in other institutions - about how this could be done better, how to properly frame the situation legally, and figure out what rules to operate according to. However, everyone emphasized what was clear to the theater workers as well, that this is really a dangerous factory, said Vidnyánszky.
The director of the theater said that the committee conducting the investigation was made up of eight employees of the theater.
"As far as I know, they worked with great care. In the person of Ádám Schnell and Nándor Berettyán, the committee included two actors who were part of the performance of Romeo and Juliet and were also present at the time of the accident. I believe that it would have been difficult to assemble a committee that was more objective and more suitable for fact-finding. At the same time, the police investigation continues. The public will also know about the results of this," he added, clarifying that he himself was heard by the board.
"I still feel the tension in the troupe. We are already playing, and we have a particularly difficult month behind us, because the theater has to be operated. Our two actors who suffered an accident, Júlia Szász and Ottó Lajos Horváth, are the core members of the theater and we look forward to seeing them back. We are glad to hear of their recovery. They are involved in almost half of the theater's repertoire. In order to exist, we have to do jump-in tests: this is what our everyday life is mostly about. We are trying to keep our performances alive, and this will be the case until the end of January," Vidnyánszky summed up the situation.
The director referred to his previous resignation, as well as its withdrawal.
"On the one hand, the results of the investigation, and on the other, the experiences of the past month tell me that I will act responsibly if I withdraw my resignation. Because the theater has to work. I directed most of the performances, so it is difficult to renew them without me. I need to help. An extremely responsible period is coming: we are closing the year, we still have a lot to do with the conclusion of the Theater Olympiad, we are planning a season, preparing a budget, contract negotiations will begin soon. So getting out of this story is very, very difficult. I said before that I'm here as long as they need me. Meanwhile, there is another side to the matter," he said.
Vidnyánszky "never dreamed that he would receive so many supportive messages and encouraging help", partly from the theater profession, partly from prominent representatives of Hungarian cultural life, but perhaps, what is most touching, from their viewers, ordinary people as well.
"I feel a little vindicated by the work and struggles of the past decades, which we went through here, I went through, we went through, and we are in the process of. So this was incredibly good, and this feeling far, far outweighed the effect of the fumbling attempts to find a catch, because they were there, of course. This gave and still gives a lot of strength. In addition, I had to face the fact that the extremely complex operation of the National Theater makes it difficult for me to separate myself from its life. Considering how many places we connect with the profession, with the training of the future generation, with international theater life," he said of his experiences.
He officially notified Minister János Csák of his resignation.
"He already encouraged me to continue, the fact that he did not want to acknowledge my resignation was again very honorable. In retrospect, I thank him very much for this advance trust," the director concluded.
The theater lives, hums, and works, but according to its manager, the accident is present in the life of the entire theater and will remain there for a long time. "The matter of the National Theater goes beyond it. I've been preparing for this my whole life. I've been doing it with honor for ten years. I experience managing the theater not only as a task, but also as a gift from God. I feel like I have to keep doing it because it's my job," he said, adding that the theater needs to be rethought, "it's necessary to go back to the very basics, and in the next two or three months we need to work on establishing a new system . For example, the amount of daily rehearsals or the relationship between performance and rehearsal".
"However, I emphasize that whatever changes we make, we cannot completely rule out the possibility of accidents. And it is no different in the world. Unfortunately, since what happened to us, half a dozen serious injuries have occurred in the Hungarian theater industry. Our foreign partners, when they called and wrote letters, all gave examples of accidents that had happened to them. In any case, now I have to communicate more with the troupe and the employees of the theater. Together we can manage to process what happened", Attila Vidnyánszky concluded the interview.
Cover photo: Attila Vidnyánszky
Source: vg/Teknős Miklós
