Local services
An exhibition entitled “Theatre is the whole world” – Roles and costumes from the history of the Csokonai National Theatre opened at the New Town Hall Gallery on the 17th of August 2023.
The exhibition hopes to communicate two worlds: On the one hand, the values and achievements represented by the Csokonai Theatre as one of the most important pillars of Debrecen’s culture, and presented here through the objects, all that the Csokonai Theatre has put before the audience of Debrecen. On the other hand, the traditional values of Debrecen culture are fed from three very different sources. The first is the old peasant, material culture, the second is the school culture that developed in Debrecen after the Reformation, and the kind of modernisation that has been sweeping Debrecen since the end of the 19th century, János Mazsu, President of the Debrecen Valuables Committee, said.
He stressed that the Debrecen Cultural Heritage is an extremely rich store of all that the Debrecen culture has matured and accumulated over the centuries.
On the 16th of September, the renovated Csokonai National Theatre will open its doors , Deputy Mayor of Debrecen István Puskás announced. He said that the city of Debrecen is the citadel and pride of Hungarian culture. He noted that the theatre was built in the 18th century from public donations, which is a true emblem of the Civic mentality and spirit.
“Two years ago, an initiative was launched to enrich the city with an exhibition space dedicated to the different elements of our community’s identity. It is a hybrid space that seeks to bring the city’s citizens closer and closer together so that more and more of them can discover what it means to be a Debrecen,” he recalled
István Puskás mentioned that this is not the first time the theatre has been included in the Gallery, as a few months ago, an exhibition was organised in memory of György Tréfás. He added that this year we celebrate the 250th anniversary of Csokonai’s birth, and there will be many exciting events in the autumn to mark the occasion.
“Our city is the strongest community with a local identity in the country, a strong cohesion that binds the city’s people together as one community,” he said. He said the exhibition opening now is a prelude to the festive mood that will lead us to the inauguration of the theatre on 16th September, a very symbolic date, European Heritage Day, when Europeanism, localism and national culture will meet”, he concluded.
Szabolcs Mátyássy, director of the Csokonai National Theatre – Debrecen, spoke about the exhibition, which presents various iconic costumes and costumes of the theatre over the past 50 years. “It’s a special pleasure that the exhibition is being held in a so-called – in theatrical language we call it – found space, not a traditional space, but here on the ground floor of the New Town Hall, because while we are talking about quite uplifting and wonderful things, people are coming and going and doing their business, but it all fits together very nicely,” he said.
Finally, the director of the theatre announced that according to the results of a vote announced on their website, the Orpheum in the Csokonai Forum, next to the Latinovits Hall and the Kóti Hall, was named after Ottó Simor.
The exhibition will be open until the 16th of September 2023, during the opening hours of the New Town Hall.
Source and photo credit: debrecen.hu
