JÓSZEF KATONA SZÍNHÁZ
Budapest, Hungary

IVANOV

author	ANTON PAVLOVIČ ČEHOV
directed by	TAMÁS ASCHER
assistant director	GYÖRGY TIWALD
stage design	ZSOLT KHELL
costume design	GYÖRGYI SZAKÁCS
light design	TAMÁS BÁNYAI
music	MÁRTON KOVÁCS
dramaturgy	GÉZA FODOR, ILDIKÓ GÁSPÁR

performed by

Ivanov	Ernő Fekete
Ana Petrovna	IldikóTóth
Zinaida	Judit Csoma / Erika Molnár
Lebedev	Zoltán Bezerédi
Sasha	Adél Jordán
Shabelski	Gábor Máté
Lvov	Zoltán Rajkai
Babakina	Ági Szirtes
Borkin	Ervin Nagy
Kosih	János Bán
Avdotja Nazarovna	Éva Olsavszky
Jegorushka	Vilmos Kun
Gavrila	Vajdai
Petar	Imre Morvay
First guest	Klára Czakó
Second guest	Béla Mészáros
With	Réka Pelsőczy, Szabina Nemes, Anna Pálmai, Csaba Erős, Máté Zarári, Csaba Hernádi

Performance time: 2 hours 50 minutes. One intermission.

If we compare theatre with a scientific experiment, and if we analyse its natural matter – life itself – with the same detail as Chekhov who, as Peter Brook once pointed out, wasn't a doctor by mere chance, and knew how to “with an invisible scalpel, peel all the layers from life which prevent us from getting to the core“, then it's not surprising that the vision of director Tamás Ascher is described as careful, detailed and pedantic, since that is the only way in which one can grasp the uncommon gift of observing and penetrating into the core, that we see in Chekhov.

Ivanov suffers, disappointed and disgusted by his own self. The crisis deepens until the last bullet. In this performance we will experience the minutiously developed acts as the most significant part of the mechanism of performance, which depends on the excellent actors from the Katona Theatre. These actors received nothing but the best possible critics for their performance in Ivanov.

The pitiful life once again comes before the eyes of the jury, before the audience that has to say a verdict. Chekhov insists that we think twice about our life, penetrating in the tiniest details of our void existence. Tamás Ascher directs Ivanov so that no detail is disregarded, in order to make the “realisation of emptiness“ as imminent as possible.

“I am mostly interested in human relationships in Chekhov’s plays, more precisely, the network of human relationships... But I did not want to reject the atmosphere either, moreover, I was trying to create a performance with very strong atmosphere, which is, however, has nothing to do with the traditional, nostalgic Chekhovian atmosphere that we are used to. My Ivanov is played in a cold, depressing world, very familiar to us... A typical scene of the 60s and 70s. This scene has nothing to do with the scenes of the original play, however, it perfectly describes the “inner” scene, Ivanov’s soul, the essence of his existence... Ivanov is in a perspectiveless, depressive situation.

There is hardly any other great Chekhov play which he profoundly analyzes his state of mind (unlike the other characters), and in each moment he wants to understand what is happening to him. And at the same time he does not recognize of anything ruining around him... Chekhov saw the world and all situations with a certain black humour, even if the most important characteristic of the protagonist is self-pity. I think that the performance cannot aim at the enlargement of this self-pity, but on the contrary, it should show this self-pity in a sarcastic way.”
Tamás Ascher

Tamás Ascher

He was born in Budapest in 1949. Having graduated from the Academy of Theatre Arts in Budapest in 1973, he worked as a scene director in Csiky Gergely Theatre in Kaposvar. Between 1978 and 1981 he worked for the Budapest National Theatre, at the time led by Gabor Szekely and Gabor Zsambeki. From 1983 he worked as the scene director in József Katona Theatre, but at the same time kept his position of artistic director in Kaposvar. From 1989 he is a member of the Union of the Theatres of Europe. He also lectures at the Academy of Theatre Arts in Budapest.

Some of his most recent stagings in Katona Theatre are: The Threepenny Opera (Brecht-Weill, 2001), Revenge (Kleist, 2002), Ivanov (Chekhov, 2004). Among other significant performances are: Mozart's Idomeneo (1979, Budapest Opera House) and Don Giovanni (1993, Lyon Opera House), Ostrovsky's A Profitable Position (1980, National Theatre in Budapest), Gombrowicz's Ivona, Princess of Burgundia (1994, Akademietheater in Vienna), Ionesco's The Lesson (1997, Akademietheater in Vienna), Molière's The Misanthropist (1997, Helsinki).
Tamás Ascher's productions have seen more than fourty countries. In Hugary he has been the winner of Hugarian theatre critics' award seven times, as well as a four-time winner of the National Theatre Festival award and in 1992 he was the winner of the state's highest award for artists in Hungary, called Kossuth.

JÓZSEF KATONA SZÍNHÁZ

Katona József is the most famous Hungarian theatre. It is a public theatre mostly sponsored by the City of Budapest. In 1982 it was created as an independent theatre, sepataring from the Budapest National Theatre and led by Gabor Szekely and artistic director Gabor Zsambeki. From 1989, the leading role fell in the hands of Gabor Zsambeki and Gabor Mateo, and Tamás Ascher and Peter Gothar.

Katona Theatre has well-developed international connnections and is a co-founding member of the Union of the Theatres of Europe. It regulary takes part in international tours, and to this day it has made its mark in more than sixty cities throughout the world: from Paris to Chicago, from London to Bogota, from Milan to Adelaide. Productions and artists of Katona Theatre are winners of numerous prestige national and international recognitions and awards.