The Szkéné Theatre officially opened in the spring of 1970, with the premiere of Hungarian poet Sándor Weöres’ play Theomachia. Although since then the theatre has played a highly important role as a production house of independent theatre and dance collectives as well as for international festivals of dance and physical theatre, the initial period was merely characterized by the works of its permanent ensemble, the Szkéné Collective. The history of the Szkéné Collective started around 1961-1962, when the Budapest University of Technology [BME] created its own student collective, the BME Literary Stage, which was led by István Keleti, a prominent figure of amateur and youth theatre, and later also staff member at the Institute for People’s Cultural Education. The members of the collective were either university students of BME or external members with civilian jobs as well as few secondary school students. In 1968 the group was renamed to Szkéné Collective, and Keleti remained the leader until 1974. Parallel to this, the university initiated the building of a permanent theatre space for the collective, on the second floor of the indtitution’s building “K”. While the BME Literary Stage created events of poetry recitation with various thematic nodes and even won the national multi-genre talent show “Ki mit tud?” in 1965, the Szkéné Collective became known for its innovative oratorical and often physical asethetics. Four years after the Szkéné Theatre’s opening, Alfréd Wiegmann became the leader of the collective. In 1975, in addition, Szkéné Theatre integrated a new ensemble,  the  BME Pantomime Theatre led by Pál Regős, which further expanded the theatre’s repertoire. 

See the productions, the interviews and the reference list here:

Szkéné Színház