In a closed-door meeting, the opposition-majority local government of Pécs decided the candidacy of the theater director after the government announced that if they were not elected, the one who supported the ministry would harm the city by 500 million florins. .

Zsolt Lipics will be the next director of the National Theater of Pécs, announced last year the mayor of Attila Péterffy, elected with the support of the local opposition coalition, the All for Pécs Association. The artistic director will be another actor from Pécs, Slaven Vidákovics. However, the mayor’s statements show that it is not the local government that operates the theater and, until the new theater law was approved in the spring, the exclusive exercise of the rights of the maintainer, but the government’s decision, similar to what happened in Eger a few days before.

The legal environment created by the government made it clear: either we choose the candidate they are targeting, or we quickly find out where to create the additional 520 million guilders a year for the operation of the theater in the current economic situation of the city.

The mayor told the local government sponsored newspaper, PécsMástating. Although Péterffy spoke cautiously and did not openly state which request was supported by the municipality, he said: “Well-known and great-sounding names also saw the fantasy at the Pécs theater,” bringing the nationally renowned choreographer Johanna Bodor and Dorottya Kossuth Udvaros award-winning actress and the material of György Komáromi, known from the Radnóti Theater, who would have brought with him the former artistic director of the Bárka Theater, László Bérczes, director Pál Göttinger, and Benkó Benkó, the founder of the independent K2 Péter Fábián theater. In addition to them, the Pécs theater actor, Zsolt Lipics, applied together with the Pécs slave Vidákovics, as well as the opera singer László Csányi.

Zsolt Lipics (b) and Slaven Vidákovics (j) at the Black Comedy Farce rehearsal at the National Theater in Pécs on October 10, 2012

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The government may have had a decisive voice in the decision because the new theater law created so-called co-maintained theaters: although the state has so far been involved in supporting municipal theaters, it has been included in the law that this now it is conditional on government and local government. “Agree” when choosing a theater director.

However, last week in Eger it became clear what this agreement meant in practice: there, the opposition mayor, also elected last year, opposed the will of the government, citing abuses and low standards, and the assembly voted to replace the theater that has maintained good relations with Fidesz for decades. However, the local government was forced to withdraw the decision, as the ministry said: in this case, the city will be deprived of the 300-300 million forint subsidy for the theater this year and next. Mayor Ádám Mirkóczki told hvg.hu about this: he cannot assess the situation beyond the fact that the head of the local government institution was not appointed by the local government, but only by the ministry, for which he “applied pressure financial ”.

The situation was similar in Pécs. Of the 9-member committee called the professions, which evaluates the candidacies of the directors, 5 people, that is, the majority, are delegated by bodies appointed by the government, and one of the two municipal commissioners of Pécs was also a member of Fidesz ” in the name of democracy ”.

And the government left no doubt about who they wanted to see in the director’s chair: Fidesz Minister Péter Hoppál lobbied in an open letter with Zsolt Lipics.

“The pécs de Pécs, who presented the best professional program beyond debate, one ed.) Applicant, Zsolt Lipics Jászai Mari Award Winning Director Nominee Program co-authored with Slaven Vidákovics and Dénes Gulyás! Hoppál wrote in a text addressed to the mayor.

Attila Péterffy

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And the new law stipulates that if the municipality does not accept the decision of this committee subordinate to the government, the subsidy agreement must be “renegotiated”.

We examined it thoroughly: there is no escape, there is no time lag, and there are no unnecessary 520 million for Pécs. It would be very difficult to fulfill this as a commitment until now.

– commented on the situation the mayor of PecsMa In his interview, however, he added that he felt that the government was somewhat open to compromise, for example, it was accepted that the municipality no longer wanted to see Miklós Rázga, the current director, in the leadership position because he thought that the theater would had “flattened”. Rázga did not even submit a new application.

Péterffy is also optimistic about the future, but also said: “It cannot happen again that a part of the Great Plain is forbidden in one of Pécs’s cultural institutions.” Pécs was the city where, for political reasons, it was openly forbidden to perform Yes, Prime Minister! starring Róbert Alföldi.

Top image: Pécs National Theater at the Zsolnay Light Festival 2016



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