Rocco and His Brothers | Madách Nemzetközi Színházi Találkozó

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Rocco and His Brothers 16

Based on the screenplay of Rocco and his brothers

National Theatre, Budapest, Hungary

Director: Attila Vidnyánszky

At the MITEM2020 Performed in Hungarian with English translation

3 hours 40 minutes with 1 breaks.

“Because it takes a sacrifice for the house to become strong. Solid."

Directed by Luchino Visconti in 1960, Rocco and His brothers is a movie based on Giovanni Testori’s novel The Ghisolfa Bridge. The title evokes Thomas Mann's novel Joseph and His Brothers, and not by accident: Rocco Sotellaro, a poet from Southern Italy who sang the lives and traditions of the people there, made a significant impact on Visconti.

Happiness, making a living and a career are what the five Parondi brothers Vincenzo, Simone, Rocco, Ciro and Luca hope to achieve. Following their father's death, they decide to move with their mother from their village in the South of Italy to booming Milan sometime in the early 1950s. The family’s path is marked out by moving to the city, defying their destiny, fighting it, and the hope of returning to their village.

Family ties, the struggle for survival, boxing and the gym, romantic love, the brothers’ love for each other, their inevitable rivalry, and last but not least, their homesickness fuel the drama that renders their story universal. Decisions, both right and wrong, made on the streets of the city en route to alienation will eventually cause the family to disintegrate: some are to find fulfilment there, some are to find it back in the village.

Attila Vidnyánszky’s thoughts on directing the play: “My aim is to show the forces and values that strive to bridge the gap between the purity of rural life with its traditions, and the struggles and opportunities of a metropolitan lifestyle. What makes them surrender purity, and is it necessary to give it up? The answer rests with Rocco Parondi, who replaces his brother in the boxing ring, and whose human qualities mould him into a genuine fighter. It is not by chance that Rocco's figure reminds us of Dostoyevsky's Prince Myshkin. His elementary goodness, almost self-effacing humility, and willingness to sacrifice his own happiness enable the entire family to look into the future with their head held high, whether they choose to return to their native region or not.”

Amelie Gianelli

Dorottya Udvaros

Widow Donini, Laundry Owner

Auguszta Tóth

Duilio Morini, Manager

Ádám Schnell

Morley, Boxing Coach

József Varga

Rosaria Parondi

Enikő Szász m.v. /

Vincenzo Parondi

Sándor Berettyán

Simone Parondi

Roland Bordás

Rocco Parondi

Nándor Berettyán

Ciro Parondi

Martin Mészáros

Luca Parondi

Ákos Haszon

Nadia

Ágnes Barta

Amelie's Children

Ginetta Gianelli, Vincenzo’s fiancée

Kinga Katona

Alfredo Gianelli

Péter Herczegh

Ivo

Márk Nagy

Rossi

László Szabó Sebestyén

Domani

Domán Szép

Franca, Ciro’s fiancée

Júlia Szász

Set and Costume Designer

Bilozub Olekszandr

Dramaturge

Ernő Verebes

Boxing Expert

Pál Bedák boxer

Stage manager

Márta Kabai

István Lencsés

Prompter

Szilvia Kabódi

Assistant director

Péter Kernács

Director

Attila Vidnyánszky

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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