Awards for the Harag György Company at the Kisvárda Festival

The Harag György Company participated in the 38th Festival of Hungarian Theatres in Kisvárda with SOPRO – Whispers in the Dark, directed by László Bocsárdi. During the nine-day event, Hungarian-language theatre companies from across the Carpathian Basin came together to present more than twenty productions, alongside professional programmes, audience meetings, and discussions.

The competition programme featured companies from Transylvania, Slovakia, Vojvodina, Transcarpathia, and Hungary, showcasing performances representing a wide variety of genres and theatrical styles.

Among the competing productions was the Harag György Company's SOPRO – Whispers in the Dark, which had already been nominated for four UNITER Awards earlier this year. The festival jury highly praised the production, awarding it the Grand Prize of the Ministry Responsible for Social Relations and Culture, the festival's most prestigious distinction. Blanka Moldován was also recognised for her performance, receiving the Best Supporting Actress Award.

The production's leading actress, Kati Méhes, was honoured by the festival organisers with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her outstanding artistic career spanning more than 53 years. A recipient of the Poór Lili Award, she has been a member of the Harag György Company since 1973 and has held the title of permanent honorary member since 2010.

The laudation was written by István Bessenyei Gedő, Artistic Director of the Harag György Company, who highlighted Méhes's eternal youthfulness, her remarkable ability to reinvent herself, and the openness, curiosity, courage, and joy for acting that remain exceptionally rare among artists of her generation. Her willingness to embrace new directors, theatrical languages, aesthetics, artistic partners, tastes, values, and professional and personal challenges—this uniquely "Kati Méhes-like" spirit of adventure—makes her far more than simply a cherished permanent member of the Satu Mare theatre.

"As the director of a theatre company, one speaks with a certain modest restraint about the virtues of young actresses. But when it comes to those who remain forever young, one can only speak with genuine admiration. What Kati Méhes teaches us, theatre-makers in Satu Mare, goes far beyond the professional lessons of the well over one hundred roles she has performed, her knowledge of theatre history, her anecdotes, secrets, expertise and experience. Experience comes with age to everyone fortunate enough to spend a lifetime on stage. But what Kati Méhes possesses—although it cannot truly be taught—is something every theatre artist would do well to observe, absorb, and, if possible, steal," said the Artistic Director, praising the actress's professional openness and lifelong dedication.

In recent years, the Harag György Company's appearances at the Kisvárda Festival have consistently resulted in prestigious awards for the Satu Mare ensemble. Two years ago, The Cripple, directed by Marcel Bélai, was presented at the festival, and its leading actor János Szilárd Szabó received the Teplánszky Award for his performance.

Earlier, in 2020, Rasputin, directed by Sardar Tagirovsky, was also invited to the festival, winning two awards: Gábor Rappert-Vencz received a shared Best Actor Award, while the company was recognised for its Outstanding Ensemble Performance.
Among productions created by guest directors, Woyzeck, directed by István Albu, also earned recognition at Kisvárda. At the 36th edition of the festival, set and costume designer Zsuzsi Szőke received the Award for Best Set Design for her work on the production.