THE MASTER AND MARGARITA

National Theatre, Budapest, Hungary

Director: Aleksandar Popovski

3 hours with 1 breaks.

Though the novel The Master and Margarita was written in the 1930s, during Stalin’s iron-handed rule, it could not be published in full until the 1970s. Had it ended up in the hands of the secret police, it would probably have brought death to its author Mikhail Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita is light years away from socialist realism, the literary style of the era made compulsory by state decree.

Ivan Nikolaevich “Homeless” is taken to a mental asylum in Moscow in his underwear, wearing a cross round his neck. He is totally confused. He explains to his doctor that by Patriarshye Prudy, he met the Devil who had something to do with the beheading of his friend Berlioz, editor of a literary magazine and a staunch atheist. But none of the doctors and nurses believes him. Ivan is then secretly visited in his cell by the mysterious Master, who is also a patient and who understands him. What is more, the Master is familiar with the story of Pontius Pilate, the same story the Devil who called himself Woland told Ivan at Patriarshye Prudy. Between them, they act out Pilate’s story and Berlioz’s death using the props found in the asylum room.

Outside the mental asylum, Woland and company are performing dirty tricks. They use magic to persuade passers-by to follow them. They distribute clothes at the theatre and cause money to fall from the sky. When people leave the theatre at the end of the performance, the clothes disappear, and everyone roams the city naked. The money evaporates, too. People are deprived of their materiality and decency.

According to Margarita, Pontius Pilate found his salvation. The Master, perhaps, dies because of this…

Based on the translation of Klára Szőllősy, text: Ernő Verebes

The Master

Zsolt Trill

Margarita

Júlia Szász

Kinga Katona

Woland

Roland Bordás

Korovyev

József Kovács S.

Azazello

József Rácz

Behemoth

Domán Szép

Hella, Saleswoman, Woman

Ágnes Barta

Berlioz, Rimsky

Attila Kristán

Ivan

Martin Mészáros

Stravinsky, Caiaphas

Ádám Schnell

Yeshua

Sándor Berettyán

Pilate

Zoltán Rátóti

Dénes Farkas

Stope

József Szarvas

Varenukha, Rjuhnin

László Tóth

In other roles

Badics Luca, Barna Lili, Jambrovics Viktória, Virga Tímea, Tóth Nikolett,
Mató János, Székhelyi Dániel, Szigeti Bálint, Vrabecz Botond

Stage design

Numen/For Use + Ivana Jonke

The set designer's assistant

Dóra Riederauer

Costume design

Jelena Prokovic

Stage adaptation

Nejc Gazvoda

Composer, playwright

Ernő Verebes

Motion tutor

Luca Hoffmann

Translator

Anna Guczoghy

Stage managers

István Lencsés

Krisztián Ködmen

Prompter

Szilvia Kabódi

Assistant Director

Gábor Vida

Director

Aleksandar Popovski

Main Stage

Aleksandar Popovski

Aleksandar Popovski was born in 1969 in Skopje. He graduated in theatre and film directing from the University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje. By 2000, with his debut direction of Don Quixote at the Maribor Drama, he had already directed many successful productions with independent theatre groups and in institutional theatres in Northern Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia. From Slovenia (where he also collaborated with the Celje City Theatre, Drama Ljubljana, Slovenian Theatre in Trieste, Ljubljana City Theatre) and the former Yugoslav republics, he expanded his workspace to Italy, Greece, Austria, Turkey, Sweden, Denmark, England, and Germany. His oeuvre already includes more than seventy productions, a third of which he created in Slovenia. Through his way of working and personal attitude, he brought a unique mixture of lightness and joy into the Slovene theatre space, a distinctive theatrical “joie de vivre” that radiates fervent devotion, aspiration for dreams and desire to move borders, providing space for music and laughter. As of the 2018/2019 season, he is the Maribor Drama artistic director.

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