Attila József Night on the Day of Hungarian Culture
The NGO Pro Cultura Subcarpathica (PCS) organized an Attila József night on January 22 celebrating the Day of Hungarian Culture. The event was held in the Perényi Culture Mansion.
Junior Prima Prize awarded Miklós H.Vecsei Hungarian actor took part in the event with his Mondjad, Atikám! performance alongside Artisjus Prize winner Hungarian pianist, Erik Tempfli. The play has repeatedly appeared since 2018 in Vígszínház’s repertoire.
The performance commenced by Hungary’s Consulate in Beregszász chargé d’affaires István Gyebnár welcoming the participants in the name of Ungvár’s and Beregszász’s Consulates. He stressed that the Day of Culture can only ever truly become a holiday if we take stock of our achievements.
– We must care for and protect our mother tongue. We must properly respect and pass on our traditions and customs.
István Csernicskó, rector of the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education highlighted in his welcoming lines that the Day of Hungarian Culture can and will only ever be preserved, bloom and develop, if we ourselves cultivate it. As he said:
– There is no community without culture, just as there is no culture without community. If these two stumble upon each other, and do not leave the other, then this culture will continue to develop and flourish.
The greetings were followed by the Mondjad, Atikám! monodrama.
What does Attila József mean for us? We know his life. All of us has a favourite poem by him. During our lifetime we find new meanings in his lines again and again. However, we rarely give a thought to what a destructive passion and a desire to love lived on in him. “Sometimes with his words and the power of insanity Attila József reached much deeper than others” – wrote Sándor Márai in his diary. From this deepness did Miklós H. Vecsei gather inspiration, from this does he attempt to showcase the poet’s journey, relationships and poem extracts.
Miklós H. Vecsei’s performance communicated several emotions to the audience at once. In the monodrama, biographical elements melded with poem extracts.
Gábor Bóta Hungarian journalist and theatre critic writes the following about the play in one of his works:
“Before us is an infinitely fragile, quite easily scarred, razor-sharp-minded, not without a genius’ intelligence, yet a man who can be brought down in the blink of an eye, who has fire and water at the same time in himself, and his emotional amplitude is hanging way beyond normalcy. In one moment he is collapsing, in the other walks among the clouds, soaring and then immediately agonizing. H. Vecsei manages to showcase this from cold to hot, then from there to here and eternally commuting, demolishing like a whirlwind-like journey of the poet. He brings the poet’s suicidal desire and soaring among clouds onto the same platform.”
The artists were greeted by a full house and applause from the audience.