The 38th edition of The Festival of Hungarian Theatre in Kisvárda will take place between 26 June and 4 July, featuring more than 20 performances across four venues in Kisvárda. This year’s guest of honour will be the Tompa Miklós Company of the Marosvásárhely National Theatre.
One of the festival’s main highlights is the reopening of the renovated castle theatre, where the Bartók Kamaraszínház will open the programme with its production of As You Like It.
Performances will be held at multiple locations, including the cultural centre, the synagogue and the castle stage, with a programme that spans large-scale productions, experimental works, monodramas and student performances.
According to artistic advisor Tibor Balogh, this year’s selection offers a particularly strong reflection of the themes shaping Hungarian-language theatre across the Carpathian Basin. Productions explore issues such as power and vulnerability, historical memory, the legacy of dictatorships, collective violence, human dignity, as well as love, faith and survival.
Several productions tackle political and moral questions. The Tamási Áron Theatre presents an adaptation of Dance of the Fools, examining how social falsehoods become embedded in everyday life. Meanwhile, the Beregszász theatre’s Revizor and the Kosztolányi Dezső Theatre production of 1984 explore themes of manipulation, surveillance and the fragmentation of reality.
Other notable performances include the Yorick Studio’s The Birth of a Dictator, the Jókai Theatre adaptation of A Market Day, and a monodrama by the Orlai Production, featuring Andrea Fullajtár.
Themes of freedom and human dignity are also central to several productions, including the Újvidéki Theatre’s Utopia, which draws on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and performances by the Csokonai National Theatre and the Szeged Cellar Theatre.
The programme also highlights actor-driven, personal storytelling, such as Santa Lolita by the Marosvásárhely National Theatre and a monodrama by the Aradi Studio Theatre.
Alongside the competition programme, the festival will host workshops, discussions and accompanying events, with daily professional talks reflecting on the previous day’s performances.
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