Release date is 2026-01-18

Előjáték Lear királyhoz -- Marsall -- Az ibolya.

Albert László from page images generously made available by the Internet Archive

"Szinház" by Ferenc Molnár is a collection of one-act plays written in the early 20th century. The pieces use witty, meta-theatrical situations to satirize the theater world and the unruly passions around it, blending farce with keen social observation. Expect actors, jealous spouses, and onstage–offstage collisions where performance blurs with life.

The opening of the collection begins backstage before a production of King Lear, where nerves, cues, and a bored fireman frame the entrance of a jealous husband who storms in to punish Bánáti, the actor about to play Lear. With another actor posturing as Burgundy and Bánáti assuming Lear’s regal persona, a brilliant, comic debate unfolds that turns rage into reflection; the wife, Helén, arrives, a harmless flirtation is confessed, and the husband’s fury dissolves under the spell of theater before the real curtain finally rises. The next piece starts in a mountain hunting lodge: Edit, a young wife, greets Litvay, a famous actor who arrives early, skips his performance, and declares his love, even as her much older, formidable husband is in the next room. Their tense, intimate talk contrasts youthful passion with the baron’s tireless strength, leaving Edit shaken and drawn to Litvay while still resisting, as the scene breaks off mid-confession. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Budapest: Franklin-Társulat, 1921