The collaboration and dedication exercised by national and international institutions, artists and researchers represent a primary condition for applying the potential of cooperation for the benefit of the public through scientific study of the creative arts. The second issue of Uránia represents an example of a “total win”. The journal takes an interdisciplinary approach to presenting a diverse and extensive range of educational and research activities at the University of Theatre and Film Arts and its partner institutions, simultaneously catering for educational and institutional needs and social “orders”.
Géza Balázs, in his study The Ancient Genres of Verbal Art – Simple Forms and Instinctive Manifestations, builds on linguistic foundations. This paper takes us back to the past of our tools of expression, to the world of ancient verbal gestures and archetypes. These ancient gestures, simple forms, primary genres and primal art forms unconsciously influence our everyday behaviour and shape our artistic expressions and our language of music, dance, film, and the stage.
In their study Reception Studies in the Sociology of the Theatre – Directions and Possibilities of Research, Enikő Sepsi and Attila Szabó present the state of Hungarian research in the Sociology of Theatre and Theatre Reception. They describe the STEP project (the Project on European Theatre Systems), an international study on the Sociology of Theatre, examining the differences in audience experiences and attitudes in four European countries, including an assessment of the personal and social relevance of the performances, in addition to describing the methodology and general results.
In his essay The World of Theatre in a Time of Change – Before, During and After the Pandemic, Péter Szitás focuses on the effects and challenges of the coronavirus pandemic by presenting the internal processes that characterise the operation of theatre institutions. The study draws conclusions on how the venues reacted to the forced closure, what measures they took to maintain their previous position, and whether they acquired knowledge at institutional level that may provide valuable and applicable solutions for cultural leaders in the long term.
Zsolt Antal, in his study The National Character of Hungarian Culture – Challenges in the New Media Space, draws attention to the complementary role of cultural institutions in providing public service information. The author’s aim is to raise awareness and encourage cultural institutions to make better use of the opportunities offered by the new media space, in order to attract the same attention with internet-based digital platforms as they do with traditional media platforms.
The main objective of András Pataki’s essay Understanding Through Experiencing – Some Thoughts on Theatre Pedagogy is to consider the possibilities and tasks of theatre and education. The author recommends rethinking the system of training and employment of professionals in the field of education, developing the necessary infrastructure and making school education more flexible. He does this with the intention of developing an effective and operational structure of theatre education in public education in the future.
Last but not least, a biographical interview was published with 77-year-old Theodoros Terzopulos, a leading figure in Greek and international theatre, a theatre company director, an innovator of theatrical form and one of the founders of the International Theatre Olympics. The Greek master maintains that only by practising theatrical rites can we return to the spirit of the ancient tragedies. To achieve this, he developed and published his theatrical method, called The Return of Dionysus, which will soon be available in Hungarian and published by the University of Theatre and Film Arts.
Zsolt Antal
Editor-in-Chief
1 Szabó György. 2012. „Az együttműködés természete.” In Magyar Tudomány 6, 642. Budapest: Akadémia Kiadó.
