French actress Valérie Dréville and Hungarian actor Zsolt Trill converse with dramaturgs Zsófia Rideg and Ernő Verebes about their creative journeys in the theatre

From Clytemnestra to Arkadina – From Vitez to Ostermeier

Valérie Dréville is one of the most important actresses of our time. In 1986, Antoine Vitez gave her the role of Clytemnestra in Electra, and the young actress won immediate recognition for her remarkable interpretation of the role. Three years later, she became a member of the Comédie-Française, where she remained until 1995. She eventually left the prestigious institution because she found herself longing to explore “new waters.” She became a part of the group of artists working together with Russian director Anatoly Vasiliev in Moscow, where she continued to explore the art of the theatre. Vasiliev began by giving her a role in Mikhail Lermontov’s drama Masquerade, and she later won acclaim for her performances in Heiner Müller’s Medea Material and her part in an adaptation for the stage of Jean-Baptiste de Boyer’s novel Thérèse Philosophe. She worked together with influential masters of the theatre and film, including Claude Régy, Jean- Luc Godard, Philippe Garrel, Roberto Castellucci and Krystian Lupa. In 2013, she worked together with Thomas Ostermeier for the first time in a production of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, for which she was awarded a Molière Prize. She will be performing the role of Arkadina in Ostermeier’s production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull.

From Puck to Galilei – from Vidnyánszky to Zsótér

Zsolt Trill was one of the founders of the Illyés Gyula Hungarian National Theatre of Beregszász (today Berehovo in Ukraine). His career has been closely intertwined with the career of Attila Vidnyánszky from the outset. He studied with Vidnyánszky at the National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television of Karpenko-Kary. One of his first roles was that of Shakespeare’s Puck, which according to playwright Miklós Hubay he performed with boisterous verve. Another was Beckett’s Vladimir. He then performed (or rather, as he likes to say, lived) leading roles in many of the legendary productions in Beregszász. These roles included the part of the boy turned into a stag (a play inspired by a poem by Ferenc Juhász), the part of Lucifer in Imre Madach’s Tragedy of Man, and the part of Thomas Becket in Murder in the Cathedral. In 2006, he followed Vidnyánszky to Budapest, and since then he has worked with several other directors, including Andrzej Bubień, Viktor Ryzhakov, and Silviu Purcărete. After having worked with him once, these directors were loath to let him loose, and again and again they made decisions concerning the works they wished to direct with him in mind. Over the course of the past two years, he has worked together closely with Sándor Zsótér. Last year, their production of Brand won several prizes, and this year they created a production of The Life of Galileo together.

(14 March 2016)