THE WIDOW OF THE NATION

"Kristóf Kelemen has made a name of himself through the way he's able to blur the boundaries between the documented and imagined. The Widow of the Nation is a work of fiction, made possible by extensive research at the Blinken OSA Archive. This archive itself is a perfect example of the intention to transform ambivalent historical experiences into a unified memory. At the beginning of the performance, a projection reads that reality and what we see on stage are not the same. The projection ends with the sentence "This is not reality". This statement is the thesis of the play. (...) The ensemble of Örkény Theatre is clearly in excellent form, and Kristóf Kelemen's direction – one that is at once serious and playful, intimate and aloof – suits them well."
(Klára Nagy, szinhaz.net)

"The premiere was set for the 16th of June to coincide with the reburial anniversary of Imre Nagy – because in the context of the 1989 event, the Widow of the Nation is about our relationship to the past, its concealment and distortion, from the perspective of the people (and in this case, primarily women) who have been immersed in history."
(Lilla Turbuly, kutszelistilus.hu)

"What we see is the struggle women have with past, and with themselves – with their mistakes and/or frailties, with their hopes and beliefs, and with each other. Of course, one should not imagine them pulling at each other's hair on stage – the widows wandering in the graveyard are well beyond living by rage or passion. That's not what this is about. They are not fighting for the man, but for the right to remember and cherish his memory. For a sense of (emotional) equality."
(Zsófia Molnár, Élet és Irodalom)

"It’s thrilling to see Generation Y or Z discovering the 80s for themselves – then making a film or a play about it. "
(Noémi Sümegi, Index)