Megkésett rekviem

In Vojvodina in the 1950s, the city people's committees enabled the operation of four professional Hungarian theatre companies. The Narodno pozorište - Népszínház in Subotica started its work in 1945, the District Hungarian People's Theatre in Bačka Topola in 1949, and the People's Theatres in Zrenjanin and Sombor in 1953, let us add: with adequate financial background, a large cast, and professionally trained directors. In the Hungarian-populated areas of the province, the very popular companies held approximately 80 premieres and 50 reprises per season. However, the same bodies that established them soon abolished them. The companies in Zrenjanin and Sombor in the spring of 1955, and the theatre in Bačka Topola in December 1959.

I tried to dig out the yellowing photographs and posters from the bottom drawers in the dusty storerooms of our theatres, and I talked to the key witnesses, actors and directors. The documentary material of the Bačka Topola theatre – unfortunately – disappeared without a trace, it was destroyed, which is why its data archive is incomplete. Nevertheless, the picture came together.

I wanted to deal in detail with the selection of plays, the performances, the personalities who defined and shaped the work of the theatres, Ferenc Juhász, Mara Dimitrijevics and others, the reactions of professionals, and the press coverage. To the extent possible, I present the complete repertoire of all three companies, the distribution of performed works and literature by author, and I mention all those – professionals and amateurs – who participated in the work and performances of the theatre.

Since I breathed with them for years, despite the passage of time, I do not see things differently than I did then, when as a member of the theatres in Nagybecskerek (Zrenjanin), then Bačka Topola and Subotica, I experienced the traumas and moments of joy, so I can report as an eyewitness what I saw and experienced. I wrote my book with the intention of saving the more memorable moments of our theatres' past from oblivion. However, even with the available data, I could not strive for completeness; I merely tried to outline the events and justify the legitimacy of national theatre in this region.

(excerpt from the flap text)