Sándor Márai: To Believe in the Real One (HU)
Apr-26
Sándor Márai: To Believe in the Real One – PREMIERE PERFORMANCE
For those in search of the true one…
For those in search of the true one…
The 125th anniversary of Sándor Márai’s birth offers a wonderful opportunity to freely select from the rich literary legacy of the writer.
The central motif of this selection is the writer’s sense of vocation and his personal creed. In the diary excerpts used, Sándor Márai establishes a moral and artistic standard, according to which compromise is unworthy of the mission of a true writer.
"You are Hungarian, you are European, and you are a writer; you must not serve any class, because your duty is to serve humanity. There is only one class whose spokesperson you may be – the class of the suffering, and only one party you are allowed to swear loyalty to – the party of reason and compassion.”
The central motif of this selection is the writer’s sense of vocation and his personal creed. In the diary excerpts used, Sándor Márai establishes a moral and artistic standard, according to which compromise is unworthy of the mission of a true writer.
"You are Hungarian, you are European, and you are a writer; you must not serve any class, because your duty is to serve humanity. There is only one class whose spokesperson you may be – the class of the suffering, and only one party you are allowed to swear loyalty to – the party of reason and compassion.”
"I was born to be a writer,” declares Márai, a writer who feels responsible for people’s souls. Yet he is constantly driven by the desire to escape. He flees from the profession designated for him, from his marriages, gets involved in affairs and escapes those too. For him, the constant state of homelessness seems almost natural. In his view, both creative and personal solitude are essential conditions for artistic fulfillment. There is no mission without sacrifice.
"I can only create man if I stay away from people... this solitude is not pride, but the final, the ultimate humility,” he writes in his diary.
"I can only create man if I stay away from people... this solitude is not pride, but the final, the ultimate humility,” he writes in his diary.
Although he breaks with journalism, Márai openly speaks out against World War II and outlines its every horror. He passes harsh judgment on war criminals:
“We wanted to educate, and the clubs were cheerfully and mockingly smashed into the heads of the educators... these people must be forced by every means to disappear from the world...”
Yet he remains profoundly humane:
“There is no need for revenge and retaliation. Personal accountability before the law is more than enough…”
“We wanted to educate, and the clubs were cheerfully and mockingly smashed into the heads of the educators... these people must be forced by every means to disappear from the world...”
Yet he remains profoundly humane:
“There is no need for revenge and retaliation. Personal accountability before the law is more than enough…”
For Márai, the search for the "real one" is not an illusory artistic pose but a daily practice of his lifestyle. He strived for perfection and the discovery of the true one in his social connections, his calling as a writer, and in his private life. He firmly believed:
“The real one always lives (exists) somewhere.”
“The real one always lives (exists) somewhere.”
Performed by: Ágnes Lőrincz and Sándor Tatai
Edited by: Sándor Tatai
Directed by: Viola Török
Set and costume design: Tímea Takács
Lighting and sound design: Róbert Incze
Edited by: Sándor Tatai
Directed by: Viola Török
Set and costume design: Tímea Takács
Lighting and sound design: Róbert Incze
Tickets can be purchased at the Spectrum Theatre box office (open on weekdays between 9 AM and 1 PM), or before the performance.
For reservations, please call: 0744-301.875.
For reservations, please call: 0744-301.875.
