'In my reading, Swan Lake is a story about a person. Siegfried is no prince, but a simple earthly mortal who in his childhood was caused grave psychological damage by his mother. This trauma has strongly influenced the self-image he has developed and his relationships with women. Although Siegfried is unaware of this, he is unable to love himself. He is also incapable of loving others, which is why he feels that women will never love him. The drama of Swan Lake (the story of the ballet) is... based on a flight of fancy: the entire story is based on Siegfried's imagination and visions. Suffering from schizophrenia, Siegfried believes himself to be in contact with spiritual beings and demons: with Odette and Rothbart. Odette is an ideal figure whom Siegfried longs after. Rothbart is a domineering personality who wishes to rule over Siegfried in both body and soul. Siegfried flees from Rothbart. He longs for Odette, whom he adores, and in whose loving arms he thinks he will find happiness.
At the end of the story, Siegfried must awaken from his dreamworld. He attempts to slay Rothbart and then in his despair tries to abduct Odette. This is the point, however, when he recognises that the two female figures, Odette and Odile, are not actual people, but merely figments of his imagination. Siegfried realises that he cannot escape from himself and must vanquish the demons struggling within him. Before one can be loved by others, one must first learn to love oneself and allow oneself to be loved by others.' (Attila Egerházi)
Presented by: National Dance Theatre
Parking information
We wish to inform you that in the event that Müpa Budapest's underground garage and outdoor car park are operating at full capacity, it is advisable to plan for increased waiting times when you arrive. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you depart for our events in time, so that you you can find the ideal parking spot quickly and smoothly and arrive for our performance in comfort. The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.
Safe ticket purchase
Dear Visitors, please note that only tickets purchased from the Müpa website and official ticket offices are guaranteed to be valid. To avoid possible inconvenience, we suggest buying tickets to our performances and concerts via the mupa.hu website, the Interticket national network (jegy.hu) or at our official ticket offices.