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The Hungarian Kossuth award-winning set designer, The Nation Artist, is a founding member of the József Katona Theater in Budapest and the Chamber Theater in Budapest. László Székely began his studies at the Faculty of Applied Arts in 1950, graduating only in 1960, because he was disqualified from art studies due to his civic training and his opinion on the Rákosi regime, but was later withdrawn with the help by Gyula Hincz. He worked with Tamás Major, István Komor, László Vámos, Ferenc Sík, András Békés, as well as later artists such as Gábor Székely, László Babarczy and Imre Csiszár. From prose to operetta to opera, sets in all genres have been invited in most of the theaters in the country to contribute to the success of the performances, at least as guests. In America, he organized a huge podium in a huge stadium for a tenor concert of three world stars. At the Faculty of Fine Arts, he started generations of set designers as a professor and later as a department head. The legendary designer was one of the signatories of the letter that supported the professional renewal of the University of Theater and Cinematic Arts, that is, he praised the reform plans of Attila Vidnyánszky and the Hungarian Theater Society. The eighty-eight-year-old artist is still active today, with the participation of rural and metropolitan theaters. For many decades, he has experienced that conflict situations can be a disaster for an artist’s peace of mind. But László Székely doesn’t argue, there are times when he has to form an opinion. In addition to remembering the turning points of his career, even in the summer, Ádám Sztankay spoke with the great artist about why he decided to sign.
A concise biography can also be found on the Internet. About his childhood, he writes: “My youth has passed amidst the stresses caused by preparations for war. However, courtesy of my parents, it can be said that my childhood was joyous. I was the only child in a large family, with all the positive experiences that come with it. What did your parents deal with, who provided a happy childhood?
My father was a technical expert at Magyar Posta. My mother and seven brothers participated in my care, I grew up in a family of bourgeois culture in Újpest. Our house was on Pöltenberg street, my friend, the painter and graphic artist Bertalan Tivadar, ninety years old, still lives on that street.
In your case, how did your interest in drawing and theater begin?
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a lot, from lion tamer to medicine professor. I spent summers at my grandparents’ house in Gödöllő, where I became friends with the three children of the painter Jenő Remsey. It was a real family of artists, the boys especially liked the theater. They made puppet theater displays themselves, painted sets, carved puppets and created fantastic productions. I used to love to draw and my interest has turned more and more to theater under the influence of the Remsey guys.
In 1950, he was admitted to the scenography department of the Faculty of Applied Arts.
One of my maternal uncles had a friendly relationship with the Oláh family. His son, Gusztáv Oláh, was already the main set designer and director of the Opera in the 1940s. My uncle told him: I am interested in the theater. He also organized a personal meeting, where Gusztáv Oláh looked at my drawings so far, and then said that it would be worth applying for the initial set design course, where he also teaches.
He was arrested and then fired three years later. Why?
I had a strong opinion of what happened in the fifties, which I didn’t even hear. Even though I went to the same class with Mátyás Rákosi’s wife, Fenya Fyodorovna Kornyilova, a Yakut. For hours, the two bodyguards stood in front of the classroom, watching over it. I had a hard time using the system that got me fired in 1953.
Nobody made a gesture: would it be better to include what you think about the system?
I couldn’t have done it. I had to go to a party history seminar at 8:30 in the morning, I couldn’t bear something like that, and I made it ring.
In 1959 he was able to continue or complete his university studies. What have you done in the last six years?
With the help of my uncle already mentioned, I entered the Krisztina körút design office of the Ministry of Metallurgy and Mechanical Engineering as a technical draftsman.
It sounds exciting.
There is no room for irony. I thank God for being able to learn in depth in the design office how to draw technical-construction plans. I still live on it. The knowledge that is gained there contributes a lot to a person’s credibility with contractors.
Six years is a long time before a technical drawing board.
I also formed a fine arts department in the office, with many talented architects involved. We also win awards at district festivals. While they were “stationed”, I painted a lot, I drew, I was prepared to have the opportunity to cultivate my chosen profession again. Meanwhile, I got married in 1956. My daughter was born in 1958, two days after my father died.
Is your wife a professional?
As a teacher, he was also employed by József Zsolnai, in the creation and dissemination of the value transmission and skills development program that he created. The Zsolnai method aimed at a comprehensive renewal of mother-tongue education.
How did you get back to being a college student?
Due to our livelihood problems, I thought it would be good to teach drawing in one of the schools. It was not an abandoned idea, as there were four closed semesters at the university. They told the corresponding council that if the rector of the Faculty of Applied Arts agrees, I can get permission. Last year there was a change of rector, so I was already received by Gyula Hincz. It turned out that he saw a couple of watercolors at an exhibition in Szentendre. He asked, Wouldn’t I like to finish my studies? He was rehabilitated with her help. In 1960, ten years after starting my studies, I graduated as a set designer. I have a certificate that says that I am not suitable for art studies and then in the same index it is also there: I can continue my art studies. A true curiosity.
After graduating, he spent a few years at the Géza Gárdonyi Theater in Eger. Were those useful years?
It meant a great school professionally. In the first year, I had to design sets for more than eight pieces. It was not easy because, according to the practice of the time, the lectures were also presented in the cultural houses of different rural cities. The sets had to be designed to be usable in almost all conditions, to be illusory. One of my most memorable assignments was entrusted to me in 1963, when Ferenc Sík, then a university student, performed Brecht’s Beggar’s Opera. The main role in the play was played by László Mensáros, who was convicted of his fifty-six adventures and was recently released from prison.
In connection with the above performance, Heves Megyei Népújság wrote of the set design: “László Székely’s condensed modern stage paintings helped the performance well, and the three-segment setting provided a suitable opportunity for the plot to unfold.”
A set is good if it is simple and practical. If you let the actor develop, because it is still the most important thing. He gives the experience we go to in the theater, I only provide him with the right medium to unleash his talent.
After his years at Eger, he moved to Szeged, where, in addition to the National Theater playground, he also designed sets for the Szeged Outdoor Games performances in Dóm Square. But how did you get to Szeged?
István Komor, director-in-chief of the Szeged National Theater, called me. He was an excellent director and a good friend. I was also happy about the invitation because the repertoire was bigger in Szeged. We also got on well with the musical director, Viktor Vaszy and the directors, Ida Versényi, István Bozóki, János Sándor. My first joint work with Imre Kerényi is also related to Szeged. We also found the sound with the then leader of the Szeged Outdoor Games, János Tari. At that time I was able to meet members of the management generation, which was marked by artists such as László Vámos or András Békés. I was very lucky with them: I had someone to learn from passionate and dedicated theater work.
What is the most important thing you learned at that time?
For example, how to communicate with the director. Or how can I achieve it in a profession where only by working with other professionals my plans can be perfectly realized. Not only the outstanding artists helped me to learn everything that was not taught in the university, but also the excellent stage specialists of the Szeged Theater.
In the article about you written by the Hungarian Academy of Arts, you can read an analysis that essentially explains that, in addition to all its aesthetic value and practicality, your landscape is also unique in the sense that it also expresses the essential message of the given work. In other words: you know the piece from head to toe. Have you worked so hard at Szeged?
I certainly had my ambitions, but only later did the era come when I dared to say to the director: spare me your visions until I read the play myself, let me have my own idea of the play.
To be heard for decades, sometimes as a fact, sometimes as a complaint: we live in an age of directing theater in which the actor is also almost secondary. How does a set designer in such a world get the director to put aside his own visions for the mere fact of doing so?
I didn’t think about that, maybe I didn’t even know what kind of theatrical era we are living in “theoretically”. What I have accomplished in the last sixty years is the most important thing: I dare say no. I was able to work not only with older artists, but also with members of the emerging generation of directors of the 1970s, such as Gábor Székely, József Ruszt, Imre Csiszár, Péter Valló, Viktor Nagy.
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