If the visitor comes to the Kőszeg Castle Theatre, he can walk around with a theater ticket in his pocket, knowing that he is in the right place: he can slow down to the city's summer rhythm, there are sit-down restaurants, pastry shops, ice cream parlors, fruits and jams with honorariums, and nice, helpful people everywhere.
You don't even have to go far to Miklós Jurisics Castle, it blends in so nicely with the city that you don't even notice, you're already walking between the historic walls. The Kőszeg Castle Theater welcomes the audience with 40 different productions during the summer season, and holds many of its own shows in collaboration with other theaters. In Kőszeg, they also commemorate Lajos Őze and Miklós Benedek.
"Kőszeg Castle Theater is an advocate of cooperation. We are also now looking for stone theater co-production partners, since then the costs will also be shared, and in addition, this way we will not create one-year performances, but ones that our partner theater can carry on its repertoire from autumn. We don't waste"
- says Zoltán Pócza, director of the Kőszeg Castle Theatre, who has been leading the institution for 28 years. Hyppolit, the lackey is a masterpiece shared with the Dunaújváros theater, István Örkény's masterpiece, The Key Finders with the Gyula Chamber Theater in Gózon, and I, the vampire horror story with the Mesebolt Puppet Theater in Szombathely.
Rehearsals for these performances usually do not take place in Kőszeg, but in Budapest, since most of the actors who perform live and work there. By the way, the actors like to come to Kőszeg, they know the local audience, they are happy to return, and they are happy to include the rehearsal process in their summer programs. Zoltán Pócza also has a very good human relationship with the actors, the "star assistants" are flying from the Castle Theater in Kőszeg. Mutual love and respect works, and the goal is always to make the audience feel good.
A cohesive community
That is why - in the words of Zoltán Pócza - there is always a good team.
I think that what works here in the army or in school is that the elders "train" the young people, tell them how the work is done here. The main rehearsal week, when they are already here, is intense, you can't relax. The director must also be very conscious and precise when thinking in the open space. There is no time to improvise or adjust the set. But in addition, these days are spent in a very good atmosphere, it's like a creative camp, when even during dinner we talk about what could be done even better at the performance"
says the director. Great community-creating actors, such as Frigyes Hollósi and now Piroska Molnár, Attila Epres, Zoltán Schneider, set the tone for this. Just as Zoltán Pócza's creators "submit" the organization and the background, they give it back in human and artistic humility - the two can only work together. To this comes honest communication, to which both "sides" can adapt. The city is also so honest, on a human scale, honest: they get to know the artists, greet them with respect, but don't harass them, and in the restaurant they already know who likes what kind of coffee, and relationships are formed outside the theater as well.
Hippolytus, the footman
The Kőszeg festival will open on July 11, 2024, with the presentation of Hyppoli, the lackey, which will be created in co-production with the Bartók Theater in Dunaújváros, directed by Áron Őze. It will be played four times in total, with Artúr Kálid, Pál Göttinger, Andrea Balázs, Piroska Molnár, Zoltán Schneider and Éva Auksz in the main roles. In the performance, they commemorate Miklós Benedek, who once played the role of Hyppolit almost 300 times in the legendary production of Játékszín 40 years ago.
Two years ago, we realized that we have a Hyppoli who has been performing with us in the summer for years: Kálid Artúr. That's how the idea came about. Then we told Piroská Molnár that we were preparing for Hyppolit. Little Red Riding Hood immediately said: »Don't leave it out! I would like to return to the stage of my favorite city.« For many years, there was no Kőszeg summer theater without Piroska Molnár. He will finally be with us again
says Pócza.
This is the third summer in a row for Áron Őze to direct in Kőszeg. "For a long time, I wanted to stage this real Hungaricum-like Hungarian comedy. We managed to put together a dream cast, and Piroska Molnár crowns the production. She was Mrs. Schneider in the legendary performance 40 years ago at the Playhouse, and here we changed her role as Makáts' chief adviser, so she appears as Makáts Aladárné. We subtly evoke the previous legendary and iconic Hyppolit productions, the film and the theater.
We will also hear the voice of Miklós Benedek, who played the title role hundreds of times at the time. And from autumn, the production will be added to the repertoire of the theater in Dunaújváros."
The memory of Lajos Őze
Piroska Molnár played for 17 summers at the Castle Theater in Kőszeg. "Kőszeg is a wonderland. We went home with Frigyes Hollósi and my friend Frici. I miss him in my life, as do many others, unfortunately. It's so good that Zoltán Pócza created the Hollósi award, and how
Hollósi coffee, long coffee with cold milk and two sugars, is still available in the theater buffet today.
as Frici consumed it. After his death, I didn't appear in a Kőszeg production for quite a few years, it's nice to be back, especially with Hyppolit. I played Mrs. Schneider at the premiere in the Theater. In Kőszegen, I will be Makáts' chief adviser, and my son Csaba Makáts will be played by Zoltán Schneider, last year's Frigyes Hollósi award winner. Everything goes together."
Two book presentations will be held in connection with Hyppolit: Piroska Molnár will dedicate her book We Are the Kvittek, Katalin Vajda will remain with respect, and Miklós Benedek will autograph her book on July 13 in Kőszeg Castle. On July 14, Áron Őze will hold a cultural memorial walk starting from Kőszeg Castle: his father, Lajos Őze, filmed Hany az óra, úr Vekker? in Kőszeg 40 years ago. the movie. He only took part in the filming for a few days, he was already seriously ill, and was taken from Kőszeg to Budapest, to the hospital. "Dad loved Kőszeg very much. Every time I visit the city, I always remember him. People from Kőszeg stop me and tell me about the filming of the Bacsó film," says Áron Őze.
The tassel on the cap
Zoltán Pócza considers raising money to be the biggest difficulty year after year, and in order for the artists to be able to speak in time, they also need to know in time whether there will be funding for it. Therefore, adapting to the possibilities, they apply in such a way that it is not only revealed in May of the given year whether they have won or received something. Already this year, they are applying for next year's performances, and they are grateful for what they get: if it's a lot, if it's a little.
Our task is to solve this. We do not have to perform a task, we are the tassel on the cap, the kiss in love. That's why it all makes sense anyway, but it's not mandatory
- gives a visual impression of the role of the summer outdoor theater.
The big challenge of open-air theaters is the weather, because sometimes the temperature drops a lot, but if the weather is windless and pleasant and the evening is beautiful, beautiful and starry, then the audience also feels the magic of an outdoor performance - not to mention, that the church bell or the chirping of birds can also be "heard". But when the rain comes... "The hardest thing is when something happens outside of your control that you can't help," says Pócza, who doesn't even want to think about the rain.
But if it does start to drip, the spectators will be provided with raincoats,
or if a summer shower starts before the performance, they try to wait it out. Four hundred people can wait in the castle premises until then. In such cases, they are offered a glass of wine, they can see the photo exhibition My Country for a horse (force), but when the acquaintances finally meet, they can also talk. According to Pócza, there are so many other things to be nervous about, it's not worth it. We are in Alpokalja, a cloud can appear here at any time, and then disappear as quickly as it came.
Horror story
The photo exhibition entitled Országomat egy ló(éro) ért – like Hyppolit – takes us back in time, and we can see how the most famous actors and actresses got by with the automobile, which was still a novelty at the time, from Sári Fedák to Mariská Vízváry, which is also connected to Kőszeg. In these nice pictures, it's even funny if one of them fell into a ditch, since there's no big accident involved.
The magic of the theater touches you even when you look at the pictures
says Pócza.
In Kőszeg, between July 11 and 21, 2024, the Köz-Játék Festival will be held again this year - in the middle of the summer season - which will take place at several locations: in addition to the performances on the main stage, there will be children's and music programs, chamber theater pieces, exhibitions, and professional conferences. As part of the Köz-Játék Festival, there will also be a special premiere together with the Mesebolt Puppet Theater in Szombathely: the horror story of the poet and writer István Baka for adults entitled Én a vampír is directed by Péter Fábián.
In all circumstances
Although we, the organizers, do not bow on stage, there are people who come over after the performance, congratulate us and thank us for the nice evening. 80 percent of the audience are repeat guests, so they know us, and we know them, certainly by face. The audience's applause is the biggest reward for us
says the director of the Kőszeg Castle Theatre. He and his employees personally welcome those coming to the theater at the gates of the castle courtyard, and Zoltán Pócza also thanks his colleagues, including Ildiko Gelencsér and Zoltán Bakos, for the tremendous work, and something to the visual artist Péter Trifusz, the image and poster designer of the Kőszeg Castle Theatre.
The series of summer events in Kőszeg lasts two and a half months. Krisztián Grecsó, Attila Epres, Anna Györgyi, Iván Kamarás, Eszter Nagy-Kálózy, Hanna Pálos, Péter Rudolf, Erika Sajgál, Andrea Szulák and Dávid Vizi will perform in the following weeks. This year's slogan of the Kőszeg Castle Theater refers to the performance of Hyppolit, the footman: "They will be here under all circumstances, won't they?"
Featured image: The crew of the show Hyppolit, the footman. Photo: Kőszegi Castle Theatre
