I cannot lie in verse.

Attila József’s poetry is at once folk-inspired and modern, simple and philosophical, transcendent and tangible, cheerful and unbearably tragic. A cluster of contradictions. He pounds on the gates of heaven while his feet already stand in hell. He experiences tender and cruel emotions with unfiltered depth — and, by doing so, he helps the reader confront their own angels and demons. His love poems are unavoidable, yet his love life was marked by a series of failures. His everyday existence was overshadowed by the bitter legacy he faced already as a child: the clinging warmth and bonds of maternal affection, followed by the lack of fulfilled romantic love. And perhaps for this reason — and because he had nothing to lose — he simply could not lie in verse.

His lyricism is precise, relentless self-confrontation, a prayer waiting in vain for God’s answer. His poems can only be spoken the way the poet lived — and this is a demanding, exceptional task for any actor. His texts tolerate no falsehood, nostalgia, pathos, or empty grandiosity. Attila József lives with us, and this commits us to honesty. Our performance attempts exactly what the poet himself sought in his verse: to be contemporary, alive, human.

Attila József’s poetry is universal and polyphonic; therefore, his poems are presented by multiple actors, each offering a different shade of masculine sensitivity. This is an experimental performance about the metamorphosis of the soul, the stages of decay, framed by the reminiscences of his last love, Flóra Kozmutza, and by selected, representative poems from the poet’s oeuvre. This is our task, and it is no small one.

Cast:
Flóra Kozmutza – Fruzsina Szabó
Attila József – Zoltán Adorjáni Nagy
Attila József – László Zsolt Bartha
Attila József – Aba Sebestyén
Attila József – Botond Kovács
Gyula Illyés

Contributors:
Katalin Berekméri, Boglárka-Katalin Simon, Orsolya Szilágyi (student), Balázs Varga, Csaba Demeter (guest)

Director, set, costume, music: János Henn
Dramaturgical consultant: Ferenc André
Video design: Ábel Henn Domahidi
Stage manager: Lóránt Májai
Prompter: Katalin Tóth

Premiere: 23 October 2025, 7:00 p.m.
Venue: Underground Hall
This performance, recommended for ages 15+, exceptionally does not include Romanian surtitles.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes, with 1 intermission.

TICKET PURCHASE:
— at the Main Hall box office of the National Theatre of Târgu Mureș (open on weekdays from 9:00 to 19:00, phone: 0365 806 865)
— on site, one hour before the performance
— and online at:
https://nemzetiszinhaz.ro/play/en-nem-tudok-versben-hazudni/