The Harag György Company Presents a Stage Adaptation of a Novel by László Németh

As part of the commemorations marking the anniversaries of László Németh’s life — 2025 marked the 50th anniversary of his death, while 2026 marks the 125th anniversary of his birth — the Harag György Company pays tribute to the Kossuth Prize-winning writer, essayist and playwright, who was born in Baia Mare, with its latest premiere, which also marks the first production of the 2026/2027 season.

Based on a stage adaptation of Németh’s novel Revulsion, the production was first presented to Hungarian audiences on 8 August in Gyula, at the Erkel Ferenc Cultural Centre, as part of the Summer All-Arts Festival. The co-production will now premiere in Satu Mare as well. The novel has been adapted for the stage by the production’s director, István Szabó K., in collaboration with dramaturg Kata Gyürky.

“The long-standing collaboration between the Castle Theatre of Gyula and the Harag György Company of the Northern Theatre Satu Mare reached an important milestone last year, when the Satu Mare company performed two productions at the Transylvanian Week in Gyula: Fiddler on the Roof and Out of Order. With our joint stage adaptation of László Németh’s novel Revulsion, premiering for the first time, our collaboration has reached an even higher level,” says Tibor Elek, director of the Castle Theatre of Gyula. When he learned that the management of the Satu Mare theatre was preparing a stage adaptation of Németh’s work, he immediately proposed a co-production. He had himself been planning to stage one of the writer’s works at the Castle Theatre this year, marking the 125th anniversary of Németh’s birth, as part of the László Németh Days organised by the institution under his leadership.

The novel on which the production is based is one of the most important psychological novels in twentieth-century Hungarian literature. Its significance lies not only in its literary merit but also in the human and social questions it raises, many of which remain relevant today. Although the story takes place in the first half of the twentieth century, it explores enduring themes such as individual freedom, the difficulties of intimate relationships, female identity, alienation and the challenge of understanding another person’s inner world. These themes have made the novel a thought-provoking work that continues to spark debate among readers.

“Revulsion unfolds the story of an inevitable tragedy in an almost diary-like manner. Its dramatic intensity, complexity and clearly defined conflicts led me to see considerable theatrical potential in this prose work, even though it is almost impossible to faithfully magnify every subtle movement concealed between the lines. That is what truly captivated me about it. It is almost a Bergman-like story, full of silence, things left unsaid and piercing screams. Working with dramaturg Kata Gyürky, we first reduced the novel to its ‘skeleton’, then I attempted to rebuild it, this time searching for theatrical means through which to express the substance of the narrative. Naturally, an observant reader may immediately notice the missing passages and details. But just as our imagination enriches and nuances the plot and the truth of the characters as we read a novel, the same happens in the theatre: audiences bring their own feelings and experiences into dialogue with what unfolds on stage, and each person develops a distinct interpretation of the work,” says director István Szabó K.

The Gyula premiere also brought professional recognition for the Harag György Company. The two lead performers, Anna Sosovicza and Gábor Rappert-Vencz, jointly received the Lajos Őze Award, while István Szabó K. was honoured with the Ferenc Sík Award for directing.

“It is a great honour that the artistic work behind our production has been recognised with two awards. I am certain that audiences in Satu Mare will also welcome the production warmly. Friday’s performance, included in the Ács Alajos subscription series, will not only be the premiere but also a celebratory occasion at which the award recipients can receive these prestigious honours,” says István Bessenyei Gedő, director of the Harag György Company. He emphasises that preserving the memory of László Németh in a worthy manner is both an aesthetic and a moral duty for the Harag György Company, founded in Baia Mare and now based in Satu Mare. Németh was a distinguished son of the region, having been born in Baia Mare, which at the time belonged to Satu Mare County.

“Perhaps few people know that the Harag György Company also presented the novel’s only previous stage adaptation, structured as a monodrama, in 1992, directed by Levente Kovács and performed by Erika Lőrincz. In a sense, the current production is therefore the second premiere of Revulsion in our company’s repertoire — this time, however, in a much more visually striking and ambitious version, with a considerably larger cast. It is also a particular pleasure that this collaboration has given the company the opportunity to meet and get to know István Szabó K. We are speaking of a director whose artistic signature increasingly includes adaptations of novels, and whose work has made a significant contribution to bringing the great works of Hungarian classical modernism to the stage through thoughtful, profound and sensitive interpretations with a distinctly contemporary perspective,” adds the company’s director.

According to László Németh himself, his best-known novel, Revulsion, “grew out of a single gesture. Two spouses were sitting beside each other, and one of them, comfortably and contentedly, was fiddling with the other — the nobler one.”
The situation itself, and the crude implications of the word “fiddling”, help explain why marriage becomes a “nauseating trap” for the novel’s protagonist, Nelli Kárász. The woman being subjected to this unwanted attention longs for a fruitful and purposeful solitude and rationally controls every action she takes. Her husband, Sándor Takaró, the one doing the “fiddling”, is driven by instinct and fails to understand the consequences of his constant advances — or, as he calls them, the “playful intimacies” he insists on every night. They are things Nelli emphatically does not want and instinctively resists, until her resistance ultimately turns into tragedy.

Cast: Anna Sosovicza, Gábor Rappert-Vencz, Nándor Poszet, Éva Kovács, Árpád Bakota (guest), Kati Méhes, Zita László, Gergő Frumen, Sándor Varga, Ágnes Gál, Barbara Bogár and Anna Mocan.
Creative team: Dramaturgy by Kata Gyürky (guest); set design by Balázs Horesnyi (guest); costume design by Hannah Gizella Márkus (guest); music by Ovidiu Iloc (guest). Ritta Szabó served as stage manager, Tekla Laczkó as assistant director, Kati Varga as prompter and Gergő Botos as sound operator. Patrik Fleisz and Lénárd Kecskés also contributed to the production.