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Based on the work of Karl Marx

Marx'sCapital

A realistic drawing in two parts, in which not everything is as it seems

Marx'sCapital

National Theatre, Budapest, Hungary

Director: Attila Vidnyánszky

At the 13th MITEM with English subtitles

“I first read Capital as a university student. Later, as a director, I became aware of the dramatic potential emanating from Marx’s sentences. Money, capital, class struggle – once given human form, these concepts reveal a drama that shapes our entire lives,” says director Attila Vidnyánszky.

The performance takes Karl Marx’s Capital (1867) as its starting point, a foundational text of twentieth-century political thought that later became a key reference for the development of the totalitarian ideology of communism.

“Capital is not merely a memento of philosophical thought, but the source of countless tragic misunderstandings. Marx’s ideas gave rise to an ideology that wounded both body and soul. Why can’t we free ourselves from this way of thinking, so deeply intertwined with hostility toward religion? The tension between the theory of political economy and the political actions justified in its name holds immense dramatic power,” the director explains. “The processes and laws Marx identified as defining features of an emerging capitalism are unfolding fully in our own time. Today, we are witnessing the dehumanizing effects of a system governed by capital. It is profoundly dramatic to recognize how the laws identified by Marx – the forces that move the world (capital) – shake the moral foundations of our existence. By treating morality as relative, they undermine the core of a dignified human life.”

This conflict takes shape on stage as a large-scale tragicomedy. The result is a danse macabre laced with elements of farce.

 

Marx

Zoltán Rátóti

Jenny Marx

Klári Varga m.v.

Engels

Miklós H. Vecsei

Lenin

József Rácz

Stalin

László Fehér

Father

Attila Kristán

Big capitalist

Gyula Bodrogi

Small capitalist

Bence Bognár

Prosecutor, Speaker

Roland Bordás

Lawyer

Péter Herczegh

Sándor Köleséri m.v.

Student

Lili Lujza Battai

Student

Milán Ficsor e.h.

Student

Patrik Albert Holló e.h.

Proletarian

Dávid Krauter

Lumpenproletarian

Tamás Jakab

The steelworker Pavel

Tamás Ábel Winkler

Brass band

László Kovács Zalán

Girl

Bodza Schneider

Costume

Krisztina Berzsenyi

Scenik

Kázmér Tóth

Stage manager

Krisztián Ködmen

István Lencsés

Prompter

Orsolya Strack

Assistant Director

Ákos Sándor Trimmel

Director

Attila Vidnyánszky

MS
Main Stage
18 April 2026, 15:00
Attila Vidnyánszky

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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