Architectural description

MU Theatre has been for 19 years a popular centre of contemporary arts in the 11^th district of Budapest, the located in József Kőrösy Street no.17. In the building of the theatre, mostly used as a receiving venue, there is a theatre room, a studio, a rehearsal room, a gallery and a cafe. A regular dance workshop performs in the theatre and by the leadership of Mr. Viktor Bodó the Szputnyik Shipping Company - Modern Drama and Behavioural Research Institute - Lab works here also.

The building shows the style of the 60’s. This modern building consists of a lower mass and a flying upper mass. The entrance opens to József Kőrösy Street, somewhat to the right from the central axle.

The facade towards Kőrösy Street has brick facing and five-storey-high openings. The facade on the opposite side of the building shows the same articulation. At the edges of the shorter side facade two-storey-high openings are planned. Square shape windows are formed on the lower mass. The separation of the lower and upper masses is highlighted with showing the surface of the concrete ceiling structures on the facades.

To the building of MU Theatre in József Kőrösy Street is a permanent venue for the Szputnyik Shipping Company,  built from concrete panels. Over the years the concrete panels became dirty showing grey facade. The building does not represent architecturally a significant value.

The theatre space has a rectangular shape with a flexible auditorium and stage arrangement.

The area of the theatre is rectangle with 12x14 meters; the floor to ceiling heights is 5.9 meter and has an axial arrangement. From the foyer a stairway leads to the theatre space. There is no separate gate for the scenery; the moving of them carries out through the auditorium entrances.

A short history of the formation of MU Theatre and its building 
  
Following the change of regime, cultural policy recognised that contemporary performing art, which had previously been forced abroad or into the domestic amateur sphere, was a genuine, fertile and distinctive factor in Hungarian cultural life. Ensembles formed in the late 80s were creating works of international quality, which reflected the social situation of the time, despite the lack of appropriate support and theatrical infrastructure.
 
Tibor Leszták rose to the occasion. A member of staff at the Lágymányos Community House, he took advantage of the opportunities offered by the system of grants from state and local government sources that was introduced in the early 90s to begin the development of more sharply profiled programming in the Culture House, and a fundamental technical theatrical background to serve it. In the course of the next four years the empty main hall of the Lágymányos Community House was transformed, with the aid of money obtained from grant sources, into a theatrical space with tiered seating, equipped for lighting and sound, for the realisation of the 'MU Theatre' project. At the same time a schedule including modern dance theatre, dramatic and musical productions appeared on the Lágymányos Community House programme. The 'MU Theatre' project began to play an ever greater role in the life of the Community House because it satisfied, perceptibly and measurably, the demands of society.
 
At this time a large part of the modern playwrights and companies were rehearsing in the cultural establishments of kerület XI – Gazdagrét Commuity House, Őrmeze Community House, VszM Community House, Szkéné theatre etc. The local concentration suggested that this was where there should be what was then an unusual theatrical type, a receiving house, which would provide the above-mentioned creative circle with opportunities for staging their work and would admit the public that was interested in the genre. With the launching of the 'MU Theatre' project a programme was started that enriched Hungarian artistic life, gave colour to the cultural offerings of kerület XI, and introduced a previously unfamiliar theatrical type into the Hungarian scheme of things: that of the receiving house, operated independently (outside the official organisation) in the form of an association.
 
The MU Theatre Cultural Association, an independent and non-profitmaking organisation, came into being in 1994 as the result of the change of the grants systém, the private endeavours of artists and ensembles working in the theatre, and from other rational considerations. Its founding members came from those working in theatre and artists close to theatre.
 
In 1999 the new leadership of kerület XI decided to make profitable use of the Lágymányos Community House complex at market rates. This decision jeopardised the existence of the MU Theatre, and jeopardised the cultural function of the building. After several weeks of discussions the MU Theatre emergency committee, consisting of artists professionally connected to the theatre, private individuals and supporters emotionally bound to it, elaborated a plan to save the theatre. This emergency plan accepted in essence the decision of the local authority and undertook to take on the running of the complex (under a lease) and to attempt to maintain the previous cultural function on market terms.
 
The suitability of the theatre building to function as a receiving house was greatly affected by the fact that it had originally been constructed as a Party headquarters in the early 1950s. It later became one of the community centres of the kerület, the Lágymányos Community House. Thus its rooms only partly satisfied the requirements of a place where theatrical companies and performances could be accommodated.
 
The building has a relatively large foyer, which is now in fact the coffee-shop. From this the office premises and the exhibition gallery open, quite separately. The ground floor therefore combines a number of functions: foyer, coffee-shop, toilets, gallery, cloakroom and cashier, together with working spaces and office premises.
 
On the first floor is the 150-seat auditorium with it associated rooms, a technical studio (sound and lighting control panel) and a rehearsal room. In addition, not in the main building but in a side wing, there are more smaller rooms where not connected with the work of the theatre operate, and where the Szputnyik Hajózási Company, founded in 2008, has found a home in a studio-hall.
 
In August 2009 the MU Theatre coffee shop was rebuilt to the design of Tamás Bulcsu, Éva Fortvingler and Bea Molnár (statics: Pál Bécser). The interior of the theatre was stripped of the layers that had been on the walls for many a year. The internal alterations were carried out on a tight budget, and so in the first place were limited to the coffee shop; in the future they will be extended to the adjacent rooms also. From the theatre's point of view the requirement was that performance should not be limited to the present raised stage, but should be possible 'anywhere' in the building. The clear space that has been made, the simple furniture and the black-and-white colour scheme are adaptable for a variety of theatrical performances and a range of different sets.

Source: Varga Andrea, programme writer, MU Theatre