The good relationship between Orbán and Fidesz actors dates back to football matches and civic circles

Hungarian theatrical life has been accompanied by political appointments since the regime change: parties have often exercised their will, ignoring professional committees. In particular, the management of rural theaters was criticized in political battles, and an alternative theater center could emerge in the 2000s, deliberately differentiating itself from capitalist theater authorities described as “liberal” (Tamás Ascher, Gábor Székely, Gábor Zsámbéki, Gábor Máté etc.) and the objective was not the secret occupation of space. Imre Kerényi He even announced in an open letter after the 2006 municipal elections, which ended with seismic success: “The current political center is the ball, the municipalities are dominated by the national conservative field. The center, of course, distributes the positions to its own people. It is desirable, and fair, that the same happens at the extremes. We need many theater directors in our rural theaters, ”wrote Kerényi, who has since passed away, and continued:

We have before us the election of directors of Veszprém, Győr, Szekszárd, Székesfehérvár, Békéscsaba and others. Come on, colleagues who are not supporters of Baliberal thinking, run!

And the colleagues requested, more and more institutions slipped by the side of the government, and at the end of the process we reached the director of the University of Theater and Cinema, considered a “liberal snake’s nest”, with a maneuver disguised as a change of model by government appointed trustees. The SZFE case has drawn more attention than ever to the division of the theatrical profession, and although the spotlight is full of power Attila Vidnyánszky Accredited theater leaders from the government side played an important role in the debate around the institution.

Together with the eternal values ​​at the service of the nation

Although, in addition to the transformation of the SZFE and Attila Vidnyánszky, there is also an actor in the list of actors who have stood out in public, who has just discovered on the right himself (Gábor Koncz He still campaigned for the MSZP in 2006), the theater leaders near Fidesz certainly cannot be accused of opportunism. Admitted to the Board of SZFE Zoltán Rátóti, rewarded with membership in the Supervisory Board Not just Károly, and among rural theater directors who advocate for transformation in public debate Péter Balázs, Árpád Besenczi and Peter Cseke they have also belonged to the Fidesz cultural lunar courtyard for many years. In fact,

It is quite specific when these actors can be timed to have entered the public arena together, and for that we have to go back to the 2002 elections and the civic circles formed as a result.

After the election lost Viktor Orban he asked his followers to “create small groups of a few people, groups of friends, civic circles” to create and organize “the public of bourgeois Hungary.” One of the first was the Círculo Cívico de Safeguards, which the musician from Bojtorján, Hard winner founded and established on June 6, 2002 Dénes Gulyás at the home of an opera singer in Nagykovács. According to the Weekly Answer report, Viktor Orbán also participated in the meeting, while Péter Cseke, on behalf of the artists involved, told the newspaper: “They want to work at the service of the nation along the eternal values ​​that the members have awakened. in the fields of art, music or sports. “

By then Cseke had passed a public display, as he was sitting behind Viktor Orbán at the Fidesz campaign event in Kossuth Square before the second round, and a year later he joined the party. However, the Civic Circle of Custodians has only heard his voice on one major issue: when László Kovács revoked by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Paul Schmitt The Circle defended the subsequent President of the Republic in the Weekly Response, and the names of Péter Balázs, Árpád Besenczi, Károly Nemcsák and Zoltán Rátóti are already among the famous actors, musicians and athletes who signed the declaration dated June 20, 2002, along with Orbán, known for having a friendly relationship With Charles of Prešovand With Gábor Reviczky, With Ákos, With Kálmán Mészöly obsession With Attila Pataky. Nemcsák’s relationship with Orbán dates back even earlier, to soccer matches between actors and journalists: for example, in September 1998, Kurír reported that four cast members, in addition to Prešov and Nemcsák Aladár Laklóth and László Lippai – He also strengthened the government team in the soccer match against journalists from the newspaper Sur de Hungary. (In addition to Prešov and Nemcsák, Laklóth also signed the July stand alongside Vidnyánszky, but we would search for Lippai’s name in vain, despite the common soccer past, he told Hírklikk in July that he was deeply saddened by what was happening with University). The circles were relegated to the background, but in April 2005 several people from the previous list were present, when he was president of the cultural section of Fidesz, József Pálinkás presented the theatrical project of the party in front of the guests. Of course, Balázs, Cseke, and Nemcsák were among the invited actors, but new names also appeared, so Péter Blaskó and Paul oberfrank he was also among those who appeared.

Many of these actors also appeared in next year’s electoral campaign at Fidesz events, and this was not forgotten, since after the aforementioned 2006 municipal elections, the opportunity arose for “non-Baliberal thinkers” to lead the theaters. rural. Péter Balázs was first appointed director of the Szigliget Theater in Szolnok in 2007 against the professional committee (the first Fidesz candidate was Zoltán Rátóti, but he withdrew his application due to the attacks), and the following year Péter Cseke was chosen for the Theater Kecskemét Katona József. director of the city assembly. Other Fidesz-led cities have also appointed new theater directors, and the Hungarian Theater Society, based on them, was attended by Attila Vidnyánszky, the then director of the Csokonai Theater in Debrecen. With this, the division of the theatrical profession was institutionalized, as the Hungarian Theater Society already existed as an advocacy organization, but the MTT did not secretly bring together “right-wing” theater directors, and Vidnyánszky became the most influential theater man in Fidesz’s cultural policy.

This medium must remain colored

However, the principle of “one side, one flag” did not always prevail in the subsequent appointment of theater directors: it hit a big dust when in 2011 Károly Eperjes’s request was also rejected by Fidesz representatives in Győr, where Péter Forgács gained confidence at the head of the National Theater (of course he is also a member of the Hungarian Theater Society, and he also took the plane in favor of the transformation of the SZFE this year), and in 2013 Péter Balázs applied in vain to direct the Theater of Comedy, and finally quit after rather Enikő Eszenyi it would have expanded its mandate. In Pécs, again, only Prešov recommended it György Dörner, but finally the House of Representatives called a new vote in which Miklós Rázga he was elected director of the local theater (he recently announced that he did not intend to run again next year and was not okay with the opposition municipal administration).

However, as of 2010, Fidesz candidates generally became directors of various theaters: Árpád Besenczi became the director of the Sándor Hevesi Theater in Zalaegerszeg, Pál Oberfrank directed the Petőfi Theater in Veszprém, while Rátóti became the director of the Gergely Csiky Theater in Kaposvár. then in 2011, Károly Nemcsák also received the József Attila Theater (Nemcsák’s first wife, Darvasi ilona incidentally, in 2007 he became director of the Petőfi Theater in Sopron). Although Dörner was previously a MIÉP supporter, he received the New Theater with the support of Fidesz.

It should also be noted that in the past, as a theater director, several people were more restrained and opposed to the politicization of theater life:

I am confident that this enormous contradiction will one day dissolve and that the creation of a group that centralizes power, which will determine the cultural directions of the coming years and decades, will not be at stake. This medium must remain colorful, artistic freedom must survive, and culture must not operate under the auspices of politics.

– for example, Péter Cseke told the Hungarian Orange in 2013, and two years earlier it was signed by the Hungarian Theater Society Róbert Alföldi (Then another official actor, Péter Blaskó, also spoke in defense of the Great Plain). At that time, even Zoltán Rátóti defended diversity in an interview with the old Origó: “I think it is important that a company sometimes meets co-creators who think differently, bring a different spirituality. Hence, a company does not lose its spirituality or its image ”.

Road to nowhere

However, over the years, it has become clear that this has not become the dominant tone in the ruling party, and two opposing camps in theatrical life have been constantly spoken of, despite opposition from many members. of theatrical life, saying that there are many flaws, but Vidnyánszky’s war logic. such delicacies were never favorable. In the 2018 election campaign, for example, Rátóti had already spoken with Origo about “a liberal opposition infected with the world-destroying demagoguery of Soros” and that “the European path that seems to be the liberal path leads nowhere. We can say that it is a path to nowhere ”.

Thus we come to the change of model of the play this year, which made almost the entire theatrical profession take a position. In this declaration of war, the directors of rural Fidesz theater also spoke: Balázs, Besenczi, Cseke, Forgács and a member of the Békéscsaba Jókai Theater, also a former member of the Hungarian Theater Society, Zoltán Seregi He also complained in turn that students leaving the University of Theater and Cinematic Arts did not want to go to the field, so they felt that the responsibility lay with the SZFE (the university repeatedly refuted these assumptions, by the way). And although there have been several indications since then, the SZFE case goes something beyond the traditional failures, since Péter Blaskó supported Gábor Székely, constantly attacked by the government press, and members of the theater companies led by Fidesz signed a statement . it also asks that trusted and old-backed theater directors not get out of the canon. And with the knowledge of the members of the SZFE board of directors and its supervisory board, it has become clear that the extremely divided theater life will not soon calm down.

Featured Image: Szigliget Theater / Facebook