“I am no longer a member of the National Theatre. Attila Vidnyánszky really did not extend my contract,” said Dorottya Udvaros in an interview with Magyar Hang.
Udvaros signed a contract with the theater in 2002, so he worked under the direction of directors György Schwajda, Tamás Jordán, Róbert Alföldi and Attila Vidnyánszky. He currently plays four roles in the theater. The actress was selected as one of the nation’s actors in 2023, and is leaving the National troupe after 22 years.
Already at the beginning of April, news broke that Attila Vidnyánszky had not yet signed the contract of the Kossuth Award-winning actress for the next season. Then we contacted the National Theatre, from which we received the answer that they do not wish to comment for the time being, but as soon as they have information to share on the matter, they will publish it.
“I have been working at the Nemzeti for twenty-two years, and all along I thought of myself as a member of the company, although in fact I have only been an employee of the theater for five years, until then, like my colleagues, I had a contract with the institution as a contractor. We have renewed the agreement every year for the past five years, until now,” Udvaros explained to Magyar Hang.
He told the newspaper
Vidnyánszky’s main argument was that the Nemzeti was in a difficult financial situation, but he also objected that, according to him, Udvaros “didn’t fulfill the mandatory number of performances”.
According to the actress, there has not been much discussion of this obligation within the institution until now, moreover, due to the specific programming policy of the National Theater, according to Udvaros, it would be difficult to play a sufficient number of performances, as it happens that four months pass between two performances. “Not because of the summer vacation, but because various festivals, guest plays, concerts and everything else are constantly taking place in the theater, which means that there is no room for the National’s own performances,” he said. “We have indicated several times that this is very bad for the actors, but our complaints have never been silenced.”
He told the newspaper that since Vidnyánszky was of retirement age, he could terminate his contract without giving any particular reason. He was not surprised by the director’s decision, as he said, he expected that there would be consequences for his previous statements.
“I am not untouchable, I am not the sacred cow of Hungarian acting, nor a permanent member of the National Party. If a director feels they can’t work with me, they have the option to send me away. On paper, my dismissal is not objectionable. How the case looks from an emotional point of view is another matter. But I’m not upset because of myself, I’m upset about the situation of the theater.”
Regarding the financial situation of the National, he said, “the government took HUF 380 million from the theater, and this year it was not possible to patch the holes in the budget.”
“I accept that there are financial problems, but if the situation is really that bad, then why is it necessary to sign new and new foreign directors for huge sums of money? There are hardly any Hungarian artists performing at the Nemzeti.”
“We used to say that what is broadcast less than 25 times, because there are no viewers, is considered a failure. In recent years, there were 11 performances in the National that did not reach this minimum. The theater played them 8-10 times, but there were some that only 5 times. On the Main Stage. While the directors of these performances received thousands of euros in gas. It’s a waste, but what’s even more painful for me is the immeasurable amount of energy and talent that goes to waste after just a few shows,” he said.
We interviewed Dorottya Udvaros last Christmas, in which she said that she stayed at the National Theater during the change of director in 2013 because she really believed in creating special performances and was curious about Vidnyánszky’s poetic theater. Regarding the serious accident in Nemzeti, however, he told Telex that the investigation “must be a precedent”. “Keep looking for those responsible, it cannot be duplicated, because this must not happen again.”
But there was not only a difference of opinion between the actress and the director general regarding the measures taken after the accident, there was also friction between them regarding the foundationalization of SZFE in 2020. In addition, the actress has been a Greenpeace activist for years, protesting, among other things, the investment in Lake Fertő. “I think that by now my public roles have been added up,” Udvaros told Magyar Hang.
Regarding the atmosphere after the accident last November, he said that he was surprised by “how quiet the troupe remained and that no one else said that such an accident could not happen”, even though several people had previously indicated that the set was dangerous. As he said, it was “scary to see” how the institution handled the case.
“Attila Vidnyánszky was apparently really broken by the accident at first, but a few days later he was talking about the actors’ mistakes.”
The internal investigation finally came to the conclusion that no one can be held responsible. “At the company meetings, several people tensely indicated that they did not agree with the way the theater handled the situation. Quite a few of them even leave the National.”
Udvaros not only plays on stage, but also in films, soon he will be seen in one of the main roles in Gábor Herendi’s new film. In relation to the film support system, he said that the Petőfi film was made with six billion, while several creators did not receive a single penny, and he was also left with two films because the National Film Institute did not support the plans, even though they would have been low-budget chamber plays. “Poor Ferenc András Szegény prepared for a shoot four years ago, but in the end he didn’t get any money. He really deserved to make one last film, but he died with people believing for years,” he said. “But Hajdu Szabolcs, for example, who I consider to be a brilliant creator, does not receive state funds either,” he added.
Regarding the development of his theater works, he said that he will have more works in the near future, but for now he does not want to join a company. “I have played in a company all my life, except for one year when I thought I would be able to fly freely like a bird, but it turned out differently. But now I can.”
