Deszka Festival opened its doors with a spectacular open-air programs

A large crowd gathered on Saturday early evening the 11th of May 2024 for the opening of Deszka Festival in front of the theatre. The audience was treated to an exciting performance.

Although the professional programmes had already begun the day before, the official opening of the festival of contemporary drama took place on Saturday at 6.00 p.m. Singing and hammering set the rhythm, and the colourful and stylish play was greeted with applause on the square in front of the theatre, at the end of which the audience marched into the historical building on Kossuth Street.

At the opening of the festival in the Csokonai Theatre, Deputy Mayor István Puskás spoke about how important this festival is to the city and to domestic theatre. As he said “the Csokonai National Theatre, the Vojtina Puppet Theater and the Ady Endre High School play a significant role in making Debrecen very visible on the theatre map of the country”.

The Director of the Theatre Szabolcs Mátyássy recalled the impressive numbers that characterise the festival; 10 days, 8 locations, 31 performances, many talks and other programs await the audience. As he said, they had worked very hard to put together a high-quality and meaningful program.

Artistic director István K. Szabó wished the audience to get involved instead of the usual good relaxation, in the hope that they would have a good time at the Deszka’s programs and would be part of the theatre’s miracle on these days as well.

The guest of honour of the festival this year was the Kossuth and Attila József Prize-winning playwright  Károly Szakonyi,  whose play Broadcast error

(Adáshiba) was performed by Játékszín company. Before the performance, the audience welcomed the 93-year-old author with applause.

And on the same evening, the Csokonai Forum also offered an exciting production at 9.00 p.m. by Örkény István Theatre company (with Zsombor Jéger, who has come from Debrecen) presenting the studio production of The Ring of Saturn (Szaturnusz Gyűrűje).

The 15th Deszka Festival, which will run from the 9th  to the 18th of May, will feature theatre performances, music, film screenings and talks. The detailed programme is available here: https://csokonaiszinhaz.hu/fesztivalok/xv-deszka-fesztival/

Source:debrecen.hu