JOAN OF ARC AT THE STAKE

National Theatre, Budapest, Hungary

Director: Attila Vidnyánszky

1 hours 30 minutes, without breaks.

Condemned to die at the stake, Joan of Arc says, “Saint Michael himself placed this sword in my hand. Its name is not Hate, but Love.” In Attila Vidnyánszky’s direction, the stake is built out of books, meant to represent the destruction of European culture before our very eyes. Paul Claudel and Arthur Honegger’s oratorio addresses questions of sacrifice and betrayal, the concept of a saint, and how Joan loves God and her homeland above all. The monumental production is the product of the cooperation of actors, opera singers, chorus members and a symphonic orchestra. It thus blurs the boundaries between genres. The oratorio is no longer simply libretto and music – but THEATRE. Joan of Arc at the Stake sweeps us along with a free-soaring sequence of beats and emotions and a chain of wild visions.

Main Stage

Attila Vidnyánszky

Hungarian theatre and opera director, teacher.

He was born in Berehove (Ukraine) in 1964.

He graduated in Hungarian literature and linguistics from Uzhhorod State University (1985). He taught literature and history for two years. In 1992, he graduated in theatre directing from the Karpenko-Kary State Academy of Theatre and Cinema in Kyiv.

In 1993, he founded his own company, the Gyula Illyés Hungarian National Theatre in Berehove, of which he is still the Principal Director.

In 2004, he was appointed Principal Director of the Hungarian State Opera House. In 2006 - 2013, he was Director of the Csokonai National Theatre in Debrecen.

Since 2013, he has been the Director General of the National Theatre. In 2014, he founded the National Theatre's MITEM festival (Madách International Theatre Meeting).

Since 2023, he has been a member of the International Theatre Olympics Committee and Artistic Director of the 2023 Budapest Theatre Olympics.

He has also directed at the National Academic Theatre in Kyiv (Leszya Ukrayinka Theatre), the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St Petersburg) and the Hungarian State Opera House.

His performances have toured Europe from Stockholm to Moscow and Tbilisi, from Strasbourg to Nancy and Kyiv.

He has received many awards, including Ukraine's Artist of Merit (2002), the Meyerhold Prize (2009, Moscow) and the Kossuth Prize (2011).

His films include Liberté 56, The Boy Who Turned into a Deer.

He has taught acting at the Karpenko-Kary State Academy of Theatre and Cinema in Kyiv and at the University of Kaposvár. Since 2020, he has been the master of a directing class at the University of Theatre and Film in Budapest.

He has been a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts since 2005. In 2008, he co-founded the Hungarian Theatre Society and has been its President since. Between 2010 and 2013, he also served as Chairman of the Theatre Arts Committee under the Minister of Human Resources. Since 2020, he has been Chairman of the Board of the foundation operating the University of Theatre and Film in Budapest.

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