VI ST. PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL FORUM FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

Mentor of THEATRE Section - VALERY FOKIN

National Theatre (NemzetiSzínház) of Hungary is the country’s oldest drama theatre, which opened its doors to the public in 1837 as “Magyar Theatre” (since 1840 - National Theatre). Since July, 2013 one of the most gifted East European theatre directors, Attila Vidnyansky, took charge of the theatre.

‘Crocodile’ is a 2016 performance by Alexandrinsky Theatre’s Artistic Director Valery Fokin based on a short satirical short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky on the stage of National Theatre.

The plot tells us a story of Ivan Matveevich, a low-ranking clerk swallowed by a crocodile, which was brought to St. Petersburg for amusement. Much to people’s surprise, not only Ivan Matveevich stays alive, but imagines himself a preacher, begins his sermon from inside crocodile’s belly, thinking that he now possesses a power to influence people’s minds. This role is performed by brilliant Hungarian screen and stage actor Lajos Otto Horvath.

“To my view, it is human pride that transforms my personage. It is the same when some one-day celebrity imagines having a might upon human fates. Sad examples are many”, says Honorary Artist of Hungary Lajos Otto Horvath.

*The performance is in Hungarian with Russian subtitles