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After successful tours in Bulgaria and Turkey, the performance Bánk bán of the National Theatre of Budapest comes to the "I.L. Caragiale" National Theatre in Bucharest as part of a bilateral exchange between the two national theaters: in response to the presence of Hungarian artists in Bucharest, the NTB company will present in May in Budapest, during the 12th edition of the MITEM Festival (Madach International Theatre Meeting) the performance Gertrude by Radu F. Alexandru directed by Silviu Purcarete.

The National Theatre of Budapest's performance of the national drama Bánk bán by Katona József, directed by one of the most well-known and appreciated Hungarian directors, Atilla Vidnyanszky*, brings to the stage a large cast of exceptional actors and a large number of extras, in an impressive scenography, accompanied by a musical score to match.

"Bánk bán" by Katona József is, together with "Csongor and Tünde" (by Vörösmarty Mihaly) and "The Tragedy of Man" (by Madàch Imre), one of the masterpieces of Hungarian drama (the Ban was the highest feudal lord)

Playwright Katona József was born in 1791, at the dawn of the 'great century' of the bourgeois-democratic revolutions, two years after the people of Paris had demolished the Bastille, the symbol of despotism. As a student, he became acquainted with the progressive movements of his time and took part in the preparations for the period of reform, primarily through theater. In 1819, at the age of just 28, Katona printed the definitive version of the dramatic poem Bánk bán, a hymn to love of the fatherland and a shining example for the playwrights of the liberated Hungarian people. Sadly, it is also his swan song, as the author died at the age of only 39, never seeing the 1833 premiere of his play. It was first performed at the National Theatre in Budapest in 1839, and from 1858 Bánk bán became one of the staples of both the National Theatre and other Hungarian theaters.

"Bánk bán" presents a broad panorama of the contradictions and social and national contradictions and strivings characteristic of Hungary in the early 19th century. Although the play is set "at the end of the year 1213", the author has succeeded in bringing to the surface the reality of his own time, deeply marked by the awakening of national consciousness. Like Shakespeare - the master whom he had only recently discovered - Katona uses the historical setting only as a pretext for setting the problems of his own era. His work offers an opportunity to analyze from a personal perspective the eternal questions about the human condition and also the specifically Hungarian relationship with the world: the millennia-long situation between East and West, the endless repetition of historical conflicts, misunderstandings and the inability to reconcile with the world.

A work becomes a classic and does not fade into the mists of time precisely because, in any era, it remains a living and topical material, capable of offering contemporaries the opportunity to analyze the great questions and dilemmas that preoccupy them at the time. 'Bánk bán' is such a drama, because Katona József discovers a profoundly human theme in this historical story. The playwright weaves a disturbing story out of the threads of love, seduction, marriage, jealousy, patriotism, power and politics, placing the drama, truth and catharsis of Bánk Bán at the center of the story.

"Bánk bán is a Shakespearean opera that raises the most fundamental questions of our lives," says Attila Vidnyánszky, General Director of the National Theatre and director of the production. In his vision, Bánk Bán is a vivid portrayal of the destiny of a vulnerable man seeking his way through the events of history.

The performance "Bánk bán" of the Budapest National Theatre will have a unique performance on April 9, 2025, at 19.00, in the "Ion Caramitru" Hall.

The performance is given in Hungarian and will be titled in Romanian and English.

Tickets are on sale at the theater's box office and online at tnb.ro.

Vidnyánszky Attila (1964)

Hungarian theater, opera and film director, educator. Director of the National Theatre in Budapest, founder and artistic director of the Madách International Theatre Meeting (MITEM). His style and method of creation are often characterized by the term "poetic theatre".

He comes from the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. He graduated as a director in Kiev. In 1993, he founded his own theater company in Beregovo, which is still active today, and his performances have been presented in prestigious festivals such as Nancy, Torun, Paris, Craiova and Moscow. He has been the principal director of the Hungarian National Opera, director of the Csokonai Theater in Debrecen, and since 2013 has been the director of the National Theater in Budapest, Hungary. The performances of the theaters he has directed - including his own-directed productions - have been successfully received in various international venues, including the Odéon Theater in Paris, the Hungarian State Theater in Cluj-Napoca and its Interferences Festival, the Moscow Art Theater, the FITS Festival in Sibiu, and also in Belgrade, Munich, Warsaw, Skopje, Tel Aviv, and Košice. The show "Wonderful Men with Wings", directed by him, was presented in 2012 at the National Theatre in Bucharest.

He is an active participant in Hungarian cultural life, president of the Hungarian Theater Association and a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.

His artistic activity has been awarded with numerous Hungarian and international theater prizes. In 2009 he was awarded the Meyerhold Prize in Moscow and his production "Crime and Punishment", directed at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, was nominated for the Golden Mask Award.

Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu