top of page

HUNGARIAN LETTER OF NEWS

Hungarian Letter of News is a bi-monthly that offers a duel focus with fresh information on both the performance and the cultural/political scenes.  

​

Produced in collaboration with Szinhaz Magazine in Budapest, our correspondents are Andrea Tompa, Támas Jászay, and Noémi Herczog—all well respected critics and journalists in Hungary and abroad.

As we move into this new year/reality, we believe keeping doors open for people and information is critical.

​

Click on any issue to read in full. 

CITD Hungarian Letter of News Volume 1 Issue 7

  • International Theatre Prizes: Krétakör (Chalk Circle) and Viktor Bodó

  • The two new shows of Árpád Schilling

  • Theatre Critic’s Award, Hungary 2016

  • Young directors I: Children of Dollar Daddy: A New Approach to the

    Role of the “Director”

  • Young directors II: Andrea Pass & Kristóf Kelemen – Two Young Answers to the Question of Talent and Starting a Career. 

  • Cultural Politics

    • Appointing a Director: A New Ideology

    • SZINHAZ Magazine: From the Brink

  • From Our Side: Bela Pinter US Tour

CITD Hungarian Letter of News Volume 1 Issue 4

  • Controversial Issues: National Theatre Festival in Hungary ‘POSZT XVII.’ – a Festival in the Provinces

  • Political Performances and Intermodality of Árpád Schilling

  • Applied Theatre Projects in Hungarian Provinces: Collaboration with

  • the Roma people

  • Verbatim Theatre and the Memory of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution

From Our Side:

  • Csaba Horvath: Blood Wedding at the Wilma

    • Thrilling, brutalizing tragedy of passion and fate – review by

    • John Timpane, Philadelphia Inquirer
      Shaping Blood Wedding – Walter Bilderback, Wilma Theatre Dramaturg

  • US Theatre Folk Heading to Budapest This Month

HLN-Vol-2-Issue-7-Cover.png

  • Vaterland: Csaba Horváth facing the hidden past

  • The Krakken-mission: Viktor Bodó returns to Hungarian stages

  • Richard III lives with us, according to Andrei Serban

  • Garden of the Protected Men opens by STEREO Akt

  • The Alföldi-case – censorship in Hungary?

From Our Side:

  • Albuquerque Gets a Promenade

  • László Upor to New York Theatre Workshop’s Lab at Dartmouth

CITD Hungarian Letter of News Volume 1 Issue 2

  • Edward II – A new show by Róbert Alföldi

  • Diary of a Madman – A new show by Viktor Bodó

  • Controversial Issues I: Park Protectors vs. Hungarian government

  • Controversial Issues II: The Népszabadság story – black day of press

  • freedom?

  • From Our Side: Martin Boross presents Promenade in Baltimore

CITD Hungarian Letter of News Volume 1 Issue 3

  • Bartók: String Quartet no. 5/Concerto – a new show by Csaba Horváth

  • A festival for young and emerging artists – Nextfeszt 2017

  • A festival in preparation – dunaPart 4

  • Controversial issue: Writers protest against the state subsidy of

  • Carpathian Basin Talent Centre

  • From Our Side: Martin Boross’s Promenade: Baltimore and Horváth in Philadelphia

  • Bonus: “You called me, dear Führer!” Béla Pintér: The Champion

CITD Hungarian Letter of News Volume 1 Issue 5

  • Peer Gynt Underground

  • Hungarian Theatre Critics’ Award 2017

  • Árpád Schilling, Enemy of the Nation

  • #MeToo in Hungary: Scandal at the Theatre

CITD Hungarian Letter of News Volume 2 Issue 6

  • dunaPart 4 – Summary and evaluation

  • Hamlet for the next generation

  • Béla Pintér’s new piece at the Katona

  • Róbert Alföldi and the ‘lower depths’: Fassbinder, Tolstoy

  • From Our Side: Budapest comes to Albuquerque

HLN-Vol-3-Issue-8-Cover.png
HLN-Vol-3-Issue-9-Cover.png

  • Elections in Hungary: Unclear Policies of the New Government, Continuing Devaluation of the Cultural Sphere

  • Liberation from the Male Gaze – Queendom by Veronika Szabó

  • The Poetry of the Absurd – a portrait of Ádám Fekete, young playwright, director, actor and dramaturg

  • Our choreographed life – The Swan by Ferenc Molnár in Örkény Theatre, directed by Csaba Polgár

  • Beyond all boundaries – Sunday by Hodworks in Trafó

  • Controversy: Homophobic Press Campaign around Billy Elliot

  • National Theatre Festival ‘POSZT2018’ Awards Abusive Director

  • The Politician as Artist – Subversive Humor and Performativity in Hungarian Politics

  • Show on Propaganda and Hate Speech: A Market-Day

  • Trafó House of Contemporary Arts Presents: Theatre and Intermediality in Hungarian Independent Shows/TÁP Theatre/DoN’t Eat Group

  • Women’s Reform in Hungarian Show Business

From Our Side:

  • Noémi Herczog’s US Lecture Tour Oct/Nov 2018

  • StereoAkt Making Albuquerque Promenade Nov/Dec 2018

HLN-Number-10-Cover.png

  • Virus in the system - Observers by Kristóf Kelemen

  • Dying is easy, but living is...? -  Vanishing Senses by Andrea Pass

  • Speaking of our secrets - Anniversary Discussions by Béla Pintér

  • New directions at the Budapest Operetta and Musical Theatre

  • The Great Dictator by Enikő Eszenyi

  • Protests against Orbán - causes and effects

From Our Side:

  • StereoAkt's Promenade in Albuquerque Nov/Dec 2018

  • Noémi Herczog's US Lecture Tour Oct/Nov 2018

  • Howard Shalwitz, Margaret Lawrence, Jarod Hanson, and Philip Arnoult in Budapest Nov/Dec 2018

HLN Number 11 Cover.jpg

  • Péter Halász Award: A New Prize for Experimental Theatre

  • Cruelty and Suffering with a Theatrical Look – Árvácska by Dollardaddy

  • Where is God in The Ten Commandments? – 10 of Csaba Székely in Radnóti Színház

  • What is Happening to You, Independent Theatre? – The Symptoms Reality by The Symptoms

  • Fight for the Soul of Science: Hungarian Academy of Science Under Attack

  • Special Report from Andrea Tompa: Control and Silence: The Abolition of a Tax Law

From Our Side:

  • Béla Pintér at Peabody Opera, Martin Boross with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Árpád Schilling with The Imaginists.

HLN Number 12 Cover.png

  • Shaxpeare-wash of Kertész Street – the new piece of Viktor Bodó at Örkény Theatre Budapest

  • Two new pieces of Company Forte and Csaba Horváth: Auto-da-Fé and Away, No Matter Where

  • One Percentage Native American of Látókép Ensemble and Szabolcs Hajdu

  • Roma Heroes: a festival and a production, The Defectives, of Independent Theatre

  • What Comes after the Abolition of the Corporate Tax Donation?

  • A Lifeguard for Hungarian NGOs and the Cultural Scene: Autonomous Culture Tender by Summa Artium and George Soros

  • News from Hungary: the situation of the CEU and the Academy; municipal elections

  • An interview with exiled director Árpád Schilling

From Our Side:

  • 18 Americans at dunaPart in Budapest next week

  • Bela Pinter directs his opera, , in Baltimore, with the Peabody Opera, at the Baltimore Museum of Art, 13 – 16 March

HLN Number 13 Cover.png

  • The death and rebirth of a University: from SZFE to Freeszfe

  • Theatre in the shadow of the pandemic: the fight of independents and repertory theatres against the pandemic

  • Attila Vidnyánszky is in charge of...

  • A country of theatres of harassment?

  • Gay people on Hungarian stages - no space for them?

  • Interview with Róbert Alföldi on the pedophile law and its possible consequences
  • Theatre professionals in Hungary and abroad mourn the death of Anna Lengyel
REFLECTIONS Issue Images (7).png

  • Is Hungarian Theatre Still (A)Live During Pandemics? – Örkény Theatre's Andromache directed by Ildikó Gáspár; the Independent Theater Hungary's Kosovo mon Amour; Closer by Panna Adorjáni & Dániel Láng; Szkéné Theatre's It Stays Between Us; and Trafó House's e-Audience program.

  •  Dreaming of Being on Stage and Forgetting the Lines – 33 Dreams, Viktor Bodó's new piece at the Örkény Theatre Budapest

  • Theatre of Death – The Dead of Kál, András Dömötör’s new piece based on János Térey’s novel at the Katona József Theatre Budapest

  • Theatre of Adults? – Two new shows by Róbert Alföldi

  • Hungarian Directors as Guests in Their Homeland – Panni Néder and Árpád Schilling at the Budapest Autumn Festival

  • Young Directors: Kristóf Kelemen, Zita Szenteczki, Jakab Tarnóczi and Dominik Kabdebon.

  • Freeszfe from a (Half-) Insider's Perspective – a short brief of the Freeszfe Society's documentary short film premiere and debate at the Maxim Gorki Theatre Berlin, and their charity auction

HLN #15 Cover Option 2.png

  • On the War

  • Theatre Olympics2023 in Hungary – Coming soon... But who Needs it?

  • Political Loyalty Pays Well: New Rector at the University of Theatre and Film Arts

  • Young Companies – Separate Directions. k2 and Narrativa

  • Theatre about the Memory of Anna Lengyel – A Cancer Documentary ’Tis a Pity it’s Cancer or Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ by PanoDráma in Trafó – House of Contemporary Arts

  • A Generation “Z” Pandemic-Piece – Directed by Andrea Pass ‘I Step Loudly and the Octogon Square Echoes’ – SzínMűhely Foundation

  • Women in Hungarian Theatre. Ildikó Gáspár; Kata Wéber; Zsófia Geréb; Veronika Szabó

  • Scenography, Design, Performativity. ’Not Big Travaille’ exhibition; ’Infinite Dune’ and ’Waterfields’ immersive installations

  • Solo Performance – Autobiography – 3rd Generation Holocaust Memory

  • László Göndör – Éva Katona: ’Living in Dream with Grandma’ – Trafó

  • Post-Lock Down Performativity – New Directions

  • Theatre is the City – Theatre at Public Places; ‘Home’ by the Children of Dollar Daddy; ’Nike’ by Kristóf Kelemen; ’Little Melting Pot’ by Judit Böröcz – Bence György Pálinkás, ‘Hamlet’ – Franciska Éry; Collective Aesthetics: ’Watermelon Republic’

  • Hungarian Films in the Official Program of the Segal Center’s Film Festival (FTP) – New York

  • Roma Heroes European Dramas Book Launch; Roma Theatre Retrospective on Howlround

Untitled (Poster) (1).png

  • Schizophrenia I – A war on protestors

  • A Country that is Two, Part I – Parallel worlds

  • Do You Feel the T-Pain? – The Trianon Battle

  • Portrait of a Young Woman – Márta Béres’ One Girl Show

  • More Portraits – A highlight of books by Petra Doma, Kinga Boros, Kornélia Deres, and Noémi Herczog

  • Schizophrenia II – How do you pronounce the C-word? A panorama on censorship

  • Schizophrenia III – Reviews and the “Make or Break” mentality

  • F..K Censorship! – An exhibition and more about fearless speech

  • A Country that is Two, Part II – Cathedrals and huts

  • A Country that is Two, Part III – Fireworks and gaslights

  • Is it Over Yet? – Art and morality

HLN 17_jt_PUBLICATION w letter__jan2023 (3).png
#17 Opt A.png

  • Covid-19, war, energy price rise – what next?

  • What does the theatre cost us? Notes on subsidizing theatre life in Hungary

  • And the award goes to... Theatrical awards and the price of independence

  • Happy birthday, Jurányi!

  • Survive at all costs – that was the 32nd THEALTER Festival

  • Under construction - Viktor Bodó's at Vígszínház

  • A Little Hungarian Pornography - by Róbert Alföldi at the Centrál Theatre

  • East is East – at the Trafó

  • Ibsen through women's eyes - Ildikó Gáspár staged at the Örkény, Kriszta Székely directed at the Katona

  • The Manifesto of the Independent Performing Arts Alliance

  • End of an Era - Independent Theaters can Disappear from Hungary

  • It Takes Courage to Face This: Interview with RÉKA SZABÓ (SYMPTOMS)

  • University Immobilized - ERASMUS+ EMBARGO & Political takeover of THE DOCTORAL SCHOOL OF SZFE

  • Up in the Cloud! - Let's GoVirtual! Online Switch of SZÍNHÁZ MAGAZINE

  • Never Again! The 14th Anniversary of the Roma Murders in Hungary

  • A Refreshing Venue: ÖRKÉNY THEATRE

    • KRISTÓF KELEMEN: THE WIDOW OF THE NATION – WAITS, BURROUGHS and BRENNAN: THE BLACK RIDER – PÉTER KÁRPÁTI: SATURN’S RING

  • Nationalism and What Hungarian Theatre Responds

    • DIORAMA GROUP: DIORAMA WITH HUNGARIANS; TAMÁS FODOR – ANDRÁS SZEREDÁS: DAGUERREOTYPE; PÉTER FÁBIÁN: BARGUZIN

  • Collaborative Thetre Forum in Debrecen

    • SZÍVHANG ENSEMBLE: IT COULD BE DIFFERENT – KÁVA: OUR SCHOOL

  • New Venues: FÜSZI, STEREO-MŰVHÁZ, GÓLEM

  • The Next Generation

    • NOÉMI SZÁNTUSZ, ZSÓFIA REBEKA KOZMA, TÓZSA MIKOLT, KLAUDIA GARDENÖ, ORSOLYA FODOR, HANNA CSERI

  • March Tours Abroad - Sweden and Italy

    • Ibsen through women's eyes - Ildikó Gáspár staged at the Örkény, Kriszta Székely directed at the Katona

#17 Opt A (3).png
latest HLN
#17 Opt A (4).png

  • Disproportionate Parade and Show of Force at the 10th International Theatre Olympics

  • Independent Artists as Endangered Species: The End is Nearer than Ever.

  • War on Hungarian Stages

  • Independent theatre-makers in ‘stone theatres’ – Szabolcs Hajdu directing his new play at the Radnóti Theatre

  • Rudolf Lábán Award – The Independent Professional Award for The Best Hungarian Contemporary Dance Performance

  • Idol – a contemporary dance performance with non-normative and able-bodied performers, produced by ArtMenők (ArtMan Association) and Hodworks at Trafó House

  • Balázs Dohy – a young emerging director

  • A text by Csaba Székely, a Hungarian playwright from Transylvania canceled at Vígszínház

  • A Brief Political Landscape of Hungary: Homophobia Normalized – LGBTQ+ Books in Cellophane

  • Reporter’s Bio and Farewell

  • Independent companies closing down or slowly dying

  • dunaPart

  • Színház – the new website

  • Robert Icke’ The Doctor in Átrium directed by Róbert Alföldi, premiered in July 2023

  • Béla Pintér’s new show: Réka and the unvaccinated

  • Viktor’s Bodó two new premiers in Budapest focusing on addiction

  • Ephemeral projects by Kristóf Kelemen

bottom of page