• Home
• Channel: Community & Culture
• Ballet Pécs: 'The Wooden Prince', Müpa Budapest, 23 February

Ballet Pécs: 'The Wooden Prince', Müpa Budapest, 23 February

• 20 Feb 2018 8:40 AM
• Mupa - Palace of Arts

Yearning for happiness, we live our lives idealising worthless puppets, just like the protagonists of this story.

 Sometimes, when we're lucky, we encounter a fairy who opens our eyes and allows us, over a series of trials, to find our mates. The story cautions us that the struggle for happiness is never useless: it teaches us to recognise the true values of the other.

In his review published in Nyugat after the 1917 première of The Wooden Prince in Budapest's opera house, Aladár Bálint summarised the work's plot as follows: "The fairy-tale prince and the fairy-tale princess, the young inhabitants of two neighbouring castles, discover each other, but an alien will - the fairy - obstructs their path to unification, chasing the princess back to her castle.

The prince scampers after her, but the fairy sets the dancing forest spinning in a ring around him, while the waves from the brook - composed of so many lovely girls - rise from their streambed.

When the prince defeats these elements sent to oppose him, it is too late, for the princess is already sitting despondently at her spinning wheel up in the castle. She does not notice her beloved pining for her below the castle and stretching upward uselessly toward her, unable to reach her.

He sticks his crown on a pole and raises it, but this is still not enough. Finally, he shaves off his hair and removes his robe, adorning the pole with these symbols of his youth and royal status. He does manage to entice the princess with these, but she misdirects her amorous glances towards the pole itself.

The fairy then conjures this crown and bewigged piece of wood into a moving, dancing figure, while the abandoned prince is left alone to lament this unhappy turn of fate. The wooden puppet eventually collapses, and the two lovers sink into each other's arms, with the pole lying cast off and inert at their feet.”

In our celebrity-dominated world, this folklore-inspired story is a highly contemporary one, serving to edify both women and men, and young and old. In a slightly ‘updated' form, it would generate a huge number of shares on popular social media sites.

Presented by: National Dance Theatre

Ticket prices: HUF 2200 / HUF 3200 / HUF 3800

Photo: Richárd Rajnai

• How does this content make you feel?
• I love it
• I like it
• I dislike it

• ballet wooden prince Budapest premiere

XpatLoop Media Partner

Mupa - Palace of Arts

Müpa is regarded as Hungary's top cultural brand, and the most modern cultural institution in the capital. It opened its doors in 2005 to provide events of international quality to a diverse audience, bringing together all the varied disciplines of the arts in a unique fashion. To this day it provides a cutting-edge home for classical, contemporary, popular and world music, jazz and opera, as well as contemporary circus, all types of dance, literature and film.

Explore More Reports

Budapest Festival Orchestra Unveils New Season - 'Titans From Here to Mahler'

• 18 Mar 2026 5:19 PM

Legendary conductors; international soloists from Alaska to the Caucasus Mountains; young talents; a new children’s opera and more song than one can imagine. The Budapest Festival Orchestra has published its program for the 2026-2027 season. Season passes for the general public go on sale March 31; single ticket sales begin April 29.



Organ Weekend, Palace of Arts Budapest, 25 - 26 April

• 18 Mar 2026 2:14 PM

This year, Müpa’s much-loved Organ Weekend once again opens the door to the remarkable world of this extraordinary instrument. The programme invites audiences to explore the organ’s vast expressive range – from family-friendly discovery concerts and timeless classics to a silent film screening with live accompaniment, and even a world premiere.



New Hungarian Operas Based on Novels Presented at Eiffel Art Studios

• 16 Mar 2026 4:42 PM

A love story worthy of a Hollywood romance and a thought-provoking psychological thriller unfold at the world premieres of the new one-act operas by György Selmeczi and János Vajda. Royal Highness and The Verdict are to be performed for the first time on 11 April 2026 at the Hungarian State Opera’s Eiffel Art Studios, conducted by Kálmán Szennai and directed by Máté Szabó. The premiere performance is part of the Bartók Spring International Arts Weeks.



Domingo-Hauser-Dimash, MVM Dome Budapest, 18 April

• 13 Mar 2026 8:40 AM

On 18 April 2026, in Budapest at the MVM Dome will host an extraordinary musical event as Plácido Domingo, HAUSER, and Dimash Qudaibergen share the stage for the first time. This one-night-only world premiere brings together three exceptional artists whose combined artistry promises a moment of rare significance in contemporary music.