Az arisztokrácia önreprezentációja az erdélyi hivatásos színjátszás centenáriumi ünnepségén
The Self-representation of the Aristocracy during the Centenary Celebrations of Professional Acting in Transylvania

Summary/Abstract: In 1892, on the days of 10–12 November, the Hungarian Theatre of Kolozsvár (today Cluj Napoca) celebrated the centenary of professional acting in Transylvania. This was a great opportunity for both the theatre and the city to stress the importance of Kolozsvár as a regional cultural capital, introducing it in the context of heterogeneous Hungarian cultural life, with relevant centres next to the capital, Budapest. At the same time, it was an ideal occasion to stage the past and plan the future of the institution. The author in her paper chose a single moment of this three-day celebration for her analysis, namely two tableaux presented on stage by members of the Transylvanian aristocracy, descendants of those families who took an important role in the foundation of the theatre of Kolozsvár, the very first Hungarian permanent public theatre. As the aristocratic representative publicity was pushed into the background by the bourgeois public sphere, the aristocratic patronage was replaced by new supporters, such as the intellectual and economic elite or the state. Despite this fact, in the preparation and presentation of the tableaux – formerly the private practice of aristocratic palace theatres – as well as the (self)staging of the aristocracy as the historical patron of the theatre, for a few days it seemed that nothing had changed in the past hundred years. However, behind the scenes the most pressing problem was to find a solution for the constant financial crisis, and the answer was a new patron, the state.

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