The Gergely Csiky Theatre is a theatre in

Kaposvár Kaposvár (; also known by other alternative names) is a city with county rights in the southwestern part of Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kaposvá ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. Opening in 1911, the theatre became a major cultural center in

Somogy County Somogy ( hu, Somogy megye, ; hr, Šomođska županija; sl, Šomodska županija, german: Komitat Schomodei) is an administrative county (comitatus or ''megye'') in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary. Somogy County lies ...

, with its company achieving their greatest successes between 1970–1985.

The building

Gregor Csiky Gergely Csiky (also Gregor Csiky; 8 December 1842 – 19 November 1891) was a Hungarian dramatist of Armenian ancestry (his mother's family is of the Verzár family that was initially called as Stefanian).Gudenus János József: Örmény e ...

, the theatre was opened in 1911 in the former Búza square of Kaposvár, as the city's first theatre. With its unique semi-cylindrical sides and distinct roofing it is regarded as an outstanding architectural achievement of its time. It was originally planned with a capacity of 1400, but with modifications, this number shrank to 860. Despite this, the theatre is one of the major such institutions in the country. The structure was Hungary's first to utilize

ferro-concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion ...

roofing. It saw two major renovations, first in the fifties, extending the stage area, and another during the eighties, this time fully renewing the building, and upgrading its technical apparatus. The park surrounding the theatre is a favoured public place.

The company

Premiering in 1911 with the operetta Cigánybáró, the company of the Csiky Gergely Theatre employed several outstanding actors, achieving the greatest success during the lead of István Komor, Gábor Zsámbéky, and later László Babarczy from the beginning of the 1970s. Several actors were asked to join the National Theatre of Budapest during its renewal in 1978, but many of them quit in 1982 to form the Katona József Theatre. After reassembling the cast under the lead of László Babarczy, the success continued, and the company won all three awards of the 1982

Belgrade International Theatre Festival The Belgrade International Theatre Festival (abbr. BITEF) is a theatre festival that takes place every September annually in Belgrade, Serbia. History Founded in 1967, BITEF has continually followed and supported the latest theatre trends. It h ...

with the play Marat halála. Notable actors who played in the company include

Juli Básti Juli Básti (born Júlia Básti; 10 August 1957) is a Hungarian actress. She has appeared in more than 40 films and television shows since 1980. She won the award for Best Actress at the 14th Moscow International Film Festival for her role in ' ...

, Eszter Csákányi, Gábor Máté,

Róbert Koltai Róbert Koltai (born 16 December 1943) is a Hungarian actor, film director and screenwriter. He has appeared in over 90 films since 1967. He appeared in the 1976 film '' Man Without a Name'', which was entered into the 26th Berlin Internati ...

, János Kulka, and

Judit Pogány Judit Pogány (born 10 September 1944) is a Hungarian actress. She has appeared in more than seventy films since 1974. Selected filmography References External links * 1944 births Living people Hungarian film actresses People from ...

External links

Official website of the Csiky Gergely TheatreRepertory on Port.hu

Sources

* Mihály, Gábor. A Kaposvár jelenség. Múzsák Közművelődési Kiadó: Budapest, 1984.
Csiky Gergely Theatre in the Hungarian Theatrical Lexicon
(György, Székely. Magyar Színházmuvészeti Lexikon. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1994. ), freely available on mek.oszk.hu Theatres in Kaposvár Tourist attractions in Somogy County {{Europe-theat-struct-stub