After gaining experience in a secondary-school student drama group, Levente Király applied to the Academy of Theatre and Film Arts (now: University of Theatre and Film Arts) in 1955. By his own account, initially, he had not intended to apply to the acting programme at all; he merely accompanied a friend to the entrance examination. In the end, however, it was Levente Király who was admitted, becoming a member of Miklós Szinetár’s first acting class. At the entrance examination, he recited the poem of Robert Burns Wha is that at my bower-door, performing the lines of Findlay and his partner, alternating between the female and male roles. Lajos Básti, later his teacher and stage partner (Király was a trainee at the National Theatre), followed the audition with great enthusiasm, particularly appreciating Király’s sense of humour, and as a result, Levente Király was admitted to the Academy. His class tutor, Miklós Szinetár, beyond the core subjects, placed strong emphasis on developing the musical skills of students specialising in prose acting. He engaged them in various music-based improvisational exercises and directed examination productions that were considered modern in conception at the time, thereby continually exposing the students to new challenges. (According to Király’s recollections, in one such production, the students performed Pictures at an Exhibition without spoken text, achieving considerable success [1].) Another teacher who had a profound influence on Levente Király was Endre Gellért, whose opinions carried considerable weight among his students [2]. It was also Gellért who stood up for Király during the latter’s disciplinary hearing. Under a regulation introduced in the 1950s, upon completion of their studies, graduates of the Academy were required to accept contracts with provincial theatres for a period of two years. Levente Király was unaware of this rule and, during an informal conversation, agreed to an invitation from Ferenc Ladányi, who wished to engage him as a member of the company of the Madách Theatre. At the disciplinary hearing convened for this breach of regulations, Endre Gellért proposed that no punishment be imposed. Instead, he suggested waiting for the directors of the provincial theatres to arrive and allowing them to decide who wished to engage the young actor. In the end, István Komor, chief director of the Szeged National Theatre, extended an invitation to the graduating student. Levente Király has remained loyal ever since to both the company and the city, where he has been performing for almost six decades, since 1959. He has been an honorary life member of the theatre since 1986, and in 2007 he was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Szeged. Although he retired in 1996, he has continued to deliver a series of outstanding performances, and his career has been recognised on several occasions by the profession.

He has often been asked in interviews whether he ever felt the urge to leave Szeged. Although several theatres in Budapest as well as in the provinces sought to engage him once he was free to sign elsewhere, he chose not to do so. By his own account, he came to love not only the theatre but the city itself, and in Szeged he was given the opportunity to portray leading roles and major character parts, which confronted him with a succession of professional challenges. A review of the roles he has performed reveals a career rich in varied and demanding tasks; moreover, his work has received considerable professional recognition, and he is the recipient of numerous awards.

One of the principal reasons for his popularity lies in his versatility. Although he graduated as an actor trained in spoken drama, he soon became involved in musical productions as well. The Szeged National Theatre maintained a repertoire that combined spoken drama with musical theatre; consequently, over the course of his career, drawing on his dual competence, he was able to perform several hundred major roles, appearing both in some of the most renowned works of dramatic literature and in leading productions of musical theatre. At the same time, this versatility did not merely denote the physical dimensions of professional skill, such as dancing and singing. His performances brought him considerable success with audiences, a fact he himself attributes to his acting credo. Even when appearing in musical productions, he never relied on empty, theatrical gestures or poses. In every role, closely collaborating with the director, he insisted on having the opportunity to analyse the character’s motivations, and in keeping with the Stanislavski system, he also sought to locate within himself the character he was to portray, searching for possible points of identification. According to his description, in this process, a thought is initiated in the mind and must reach the heart, and when mind and heart coexist in proper unity on stage, a ‘miracle’ can occur, making it possible to embody a character and create a situation that speaks directly to the audience. Consequently, he regards as his greatest successes those moments when members of the audience have reported recognising their own situations and problems in the role he portrayed [3], that is, when the performance resonated with them on a personal level.

Although his first role in Szeged was met with a positive response from the audience, Levente Király himself regarded it as a failure. In the production based on Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s play The Mayor of Zalamea (dir. István Komor, 2 October 1959), he played a sergeant, according to the role, a middle-aged, robust figure with a booming voice. By contrast, at the time, Király was on stage as a newly graduated actor, young and slight in build. Despite the success with the audience, he considers this performance to have been the greatest failure of his life [4], one that nonetheless proved to be a decisive turning point in his career. It was during this time that he began to engage more deeply with the character’s motivations in a practical sense, as he felt that he had not been able to connect with the motivations behind the character or their true, human side. He said that in his next role, he successfully achieved this goal, and his portrayal of Misi in the play Érdekházasság (lit. The Marriage of Convenience), written by Mátyás Csizmarek, László Nádassi, and Jenő Semsei (dir. Ida Versényi, 8 November 1959) restored his self-confidence [5]. One of his most memorable roles from this period was Mercutio in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, directed by József Szendrő (22 September 1961). In his portrayal of Mercutio, he captured the character’s youthfulness and untamed temperament, culminating in the fencing scene. The duel was not constructed from carefully choreographed, formalised movements; instead, it became a frantic struggle, energetic, impulsive, and driven by unbridled emotions, that reflected all the passions of rebellious youth. Within this interpretation, death as a real and final outcome does not enter Mercutio’s mind until the very last moment, and for this reason, his death becomes a genuine loss and a tragic turning point for the play as a whole. Zoltán Lőkös wrote of Király’s performance as follows: “Király grasped the very essence of Mercutio, this ever-cheerful, warm-hearted, generous young man, whose qualities found especially vivid expression in his performance [6].”

Over the course of his career, he delivered memorable performances in numerous musical roles. Among these, the following roles may be highlighted: Ottokar (Johann Strauss, Mór Jókai, and Ignaz Schnitzer: The Gypsy Baron, Szegedi Szabadtéri Játékok [Szeged Open-Air Festival], Dóm tér, 8 August 1963, dir. András Békés); Brissard (Ferenc Lehár, Alfred Maria Willner, and Robert Bodansky: The Count of Luxembourg, Szeged National Theatre, 28 September 1963, dir. László Hegedűs); Tóbiás Zwickli (Jenő Huszka and László Szilágyi: Mária főhadnagy [lit. Lieutenant Mária], Szeged National Theatre, 7 December 1963, dir. Ida Versényi); Nestor and Oscar (Marguerite Monnot and Alexandre Breffort: Irma la Douce, Szeged National Theatre, 18 December 1965, dir. János Sándor); the King of France in János vitéz (John the Valiant) (Pongrác Kacsóh, Sándor Petőfi, and Károly Bakonyi: János vitéz [John the Valiant], Szeged Open-Air Festival, Dóm tér, 10 August 1973, dir. Zoltán Horváth); Boni (Imre Kálmán, Leo Stein, and Béla Jenbach: Csárdáskirálynő [The Csárdás Princess], Szeged National Theatre, 1 October 1977, dir. László Félix); Balga (Lajos Illés, Mihály Vörösmarty, and Gábor Görgey: Egy fiú és a tündér [lit. A Boy and the Fairy], Szeged National Theatre, 18 October 1974, dir. János Sándor); and Amos Hart (John Kander, Maurine Dallas Watkins, Fred Ebb, and Bob Fosse: Chicago, Szeged National Theatre, 20 May 1994, dir. János Sándor).

Critics have repeatedly highlighted the versatility of his performances [7], his capacity for renewal [8], and his virtuosity [9]. In Gábor Görgey’s musical adaptation of Csongor és Tünde (lit. Csongor and Tünde), he portrayed Balga, the resident of Cső utca (lit. Pipe Street), one half of the human couple, the partner of Ilma, with great success. Writing about this performance, András Barta emphasised Király’s ability to maintain the proper balance between comedy and tragedy, as well as his confident command of his acting resources: “You can only speak of Levente Király’s Balga in superlatives. He is a virtuoso shaper of character who knows precisely the effect of every gesture and every word, and who never oversteps the bounds of good taste in comedy [10].” The same sense of proportion and his comic flair were praised in his portrayal of Švejk, (Jaroslav Hašek and Ivan Bednar: Švejk, Chamber Theatre of Szeged National Theatre, 21 October 1994, dir. Pavel Hekela [guest director]): “Király strikes an electrifying balance; throughout the whole play, he preserves Švejk’s secret, namely, whether he is simple-minded or, on the contrary, cunningly intelligent. An irresistibly amusing and endearing figure. A brilliant performance [11].”

An important milestone in his career was the production Kean, or Disorder and Genius (Alexandre Dumas and Jean-Paul Sartre: Kean, or Disorder and Genius, Studio Theatre of Szeged National Theatre, 7 October 1983, dir. János Sándor), in which he portrayed Edmund Kean. In this role, he incorporated a number of well-known dramatic parts, giving voice to the play’s central question through each of them: the location of the boundary between the private individual and the actor. This issue was also of personal significance to Király, for although he consistently sought the human dimension of every character he portrayed, he repeatedly emphasised that this did not entail the involvement of his own private self. He firmly believed that the everyday life and personal problems of the individual must remain outside the stage. Király recalled that during the rehearsals, he and director János Sándor analysed the play in great detail, breaking down the lines according to whether they were spoken by Kean the actor or by Kean the man, and then reconstructing the production from these minute distinctions. At the same time, as an actor, he frequently identified with the role and with the questions surrounding the nature of the actor’s existence. He reflected on this as follows: “On stage, during the performance, with the exception of a few key scenes, even I myself no longer know which line belongs to Kean the man, which to Kean the role-playing actor, and which is my own. This role is a series of double twists: it speaks of life, of art, of human relationships, and of the relationship between the individual and society. I was also searching for my own position, seeking my own self in the figure of Kean. Its rigorous philosophy is created by the fusion of emotionally charged Romanticism with an intellect rich in reason [12].”

Among his musical roles, the leading role of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof deserves particular attention (Jerry Bock, Sholem Aleichem, and Joseph Stein: Fiddler on the Roof, Szeged National Theatre, 11 October 1986). This production was also directed by János Sándor, with whom Király frequently collaborated. In his review, Tamás Barabás emphasised that with this performance, Levente Király had to step into the footsteps of great predecessors such as Chaim Topol, who portrayed Tevye in the world-famous film adaptation (1971, dir. Norman Jewison), or Ferenc Bessenyei, who played the role in Budapest at the Capital Operetta Theatre (9 February 1973, dir. László Vámos). Both Barabás and other critics were unanimous in their view that Levente Király not only rose to the level of his predecessors but also succeeded in creating his own interpretation of Tevye, presenting a new character [13]. In the words of Zoltán Polner: “The versatility and richness of his acting acquired new shades in this musical. In many respects, you were able to see a ‘new’ Levente Király on stage. Most gratifying was his mannerism-free, direct artistic performance [14].” Király himself stated [15] that it was in the character of Tevye that he found the unity he had long sought in his acting career, and which he regarded as the cornerstone of a successful performance: the unity of love and thought, of soul and mind. For him, Tevye is a character in whom this unity remains present even when he disowns his daughter and finds himself in a state of utter despair; yet even in this state, he does not make demands of God, in whom he has unshakeable faith, but engages in a calm, almost conversational dialogue with Him. Király located Tevye’s human dimension, and his own personal attachment to the role, in the character’s love for his family and daughters, and shaped this attachment in a way that was palpable and emotionally accessible to audiences.

By the time Levente Király first collaborated with Sándor Zsótér in 1997, he had already been a member of the company of the Szeged National Theatre for almost four decades, a period during which numerous major performances had become associated with his name. Their first collaboration took place in the production The Eaglet (Edmond Rostand: The Eaglet, Szeged National Theatre, 7 February 1997). This was followed later in the same year by Death of a Salesman, in which Király played the leading role (Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman – Inside His Head [Inside His Head refers to Arthur Miller’s original title idea for Death of a Salesman], Szeged National Theatre, 12 December 1997), inaugurating a collaboration that would extend over several years. In subsequent seasons, Sándor Zsótér built a several of his Szeged productions around Levente Király’s stage presence. He cast him in the title role in Falstaff (William Shakespeare: Falstaff, Szeged National Theatre, 14 May 1999), in Life of Galileo (Bertolt Brecht: Life of Galileo, Tantusz Chamber Theatre of Szeged National Theatre, 2 February 2002), and in King Lear (William Shakespeare: King Lear, Chamber Theatre of Szeged National Theatre, 19 October 2007), on each occasion assigning him the title role. According to Sándor Zsótér, Levente Király is one of those rare artists whose high level of professional mastery is coupled with a genuine delight in his work: “I met very few actors after him who take pleasure in what they do. That is, he does not do it out of suffering, or struggle, or mere professional routine, or for money – anyway, there was no money in it, the pay was abysmal. Rather, he derives real enjoyment from acting. And if he takes joy in acting, then others take joy in it as well [16].”

Their collaboration began in 1997 with Death of a Salesman. In his production, Sándor Zsótér experimented with reshaping the established interpretative tradition of the play, shifting the emphasis towards an individual perspective, employing his characteristic ironic and self-reflexive tone [17]. As he put it: “If audiences find the play’s social aspects familiar, so be it. However, what primarily interested us was what is going on inside Willy’s head. The same thing preoccupied the author himself; otherwise, why would he have chosen this [Inside His Head] as the original title of his play [18]?” In his staging, Zsótér drew further parallels between the text of Arthur Miller’s play and the motifs and characters of The Wizard of Oz. Levente Király once again assumed a role previously performed by great predecessors, since József Tímár and Ferenc Kiss had also portrayed the salesman before him [19]. In his own interpretation of the role, the central element once more became the family, and the salesman’s attachment to his loved ones. In Király’s performance, Willy Loman as a father figure appears as an anxious, emotionally immature man who retreats from reality into a world of dreams, and being unable to rely on his own abilities, he channels his efforts into the hope that his children will surpass him in life [20]. This dream, this longing for an idealised vision of the future, provided the basis for Sándor Zsótér’s reading of Death of a Salesman through The Wizard of Oz, in which Willy Loman corresponds to Dorothy, while members of his family are aligned with the other characters from The Wizard of Oz, such as the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and others. Király reflected on this as follows: “At first, I was resistant to this concept. Zsótér introduced his ideas gradually, and during the rehearsals, I came to accept his version. The expectation of a miracle is a central issue both in Miller’s play and in The Wizard of Oz. The characters in both works believe that everything must turn out beautiful and good. You set off along the yellow brick road of Oz and arrive in the land of miracles. Death of a Salesman is about this kind of American-style success culture, which has become increasingly prevalent in Hungary as well. It is about the demand always to smile, always to stay on top – a lot of people are crushed by these demands [21].” According to Tamás Koltai’s appraisal, Levente Király appears as an “abject yet self-respecting Loman, perfectly portraying the character, who has an encumbered body and a childlike soul, combining a frailty of life with a robust will. He compensates for his entirely unmelodramatic ‘softness’ with the illusion of toughness. The moment when he disappears into the stage trap between his two enormous suitcases (a homage to József Tímár?) is a beautiful display of metaphysical death [22].”

In 1999, Sándor Zsótér condensed Shakespeare’s two-part play Henry IV into a single production, in which Levente Király performed both Falstaff and King Henry IV, moving with virtuoso ease between the two roles. Although he had already taken on the role of Falstaff earlier, in János Sándor’s 1985 production (William Shakespeare: Henry IV, Szeged National Theatre, 6 December 1985), Zsótér’s staging enabled him to create a character markedly different from his earlier interpretation. In portraying Falstaff, he did not build the role primarily on physical attributes, which could have been an impossible task, since the transition between the two characters was not effected mainly through external markers. Rather, it was Király’s performance itself that had to make clear to the audience when they were seeing King Henry IV and when Falstaff. Péter Molnár Gál said that both role interpretations proved successful: “Király does not become Falstaff by having a dresser pad out his belly. His transformation is not a theatrical trick, but an act of art. It is an inner, generous expansiveness, and a youthful roguishness and playfulness that make him Falstaffian [23].” Tamás Koltai observed that Király’s “more-than-corpulent physique not only suits Falstaff, but drives him towards an inward mode of concentration. […] Furthermore, since he portrays King Henry IV as well, distinguished from Falstaff by little more than a pair of spectacles and a royal cloak, both the majestic restraint and the rogue’s teasing playfulness are animated by his charged diction [24].”

His next major success in a Zsótér production was recognised by theatre critics with an award. His performance in the title role of Life of Galileo (Bertolt Brecht: Life of Galileo, Tantusz Chamber Theatre of Szeged National Theatre, 2 February 2002) was honoured with the Theatre Critics’ Prize for Best Actor. Sándor Zsótér described the genre of the production as an experiment, in which, alongside linguistic and translational innovations, the dramaturgical interventions made in the text were particularly striking, resulting in a shorter yet more condensed stage script. This density became a primary source of dramatic tension, bringing the actor’s performance to the fore. Owing to the relative absence of conventional plot development in the drama, the success of the production rested on Levente Király’s portrayal, and Galilei’s character offered a precise depiction of a world in which both the need for and the possibilities of independent thought and the formation and expression of opinions are increasingly constrained due to the interests of those in power. In Levente Király’s performance, there was a palpable tension arising from the contradiction between a static, ageing body and a dynamic intellect: “At times, Király kneels on the sofa, and half turning, casually peers into the tube, takes note of what he sees, and urges others to engage in the experience themselves. Wise, unruffled, and matter-of-fact. Rarely has such suggestive power been compressed into inactivity [25].” Péter Molnár Gál emphasised that alongside this apparent stillness, the carefully constructed nature of the movements, their meticulous, finely calibrated elaboration and precise deployment, became a stage language that both complemented the text and was inseparable from it: “There is no pseudo-dramatic gesturing, no flailing of the arms, no over-explaining gestures. Levente Király remains almost motionless throughout the play. Beneath the edge of the tabletop, his left-hand toys with a stone used to demonstrate gravity. His wrist does not move. He tastes the thoughts with the tips of his fingers alone [26].”

King Lear, which premiered on 19 October 2007, once again under the direction of Sándor Zsótér, received a mixed reception from both audiences and critics. While the directorial concept itself was the subject of considerable criticism, Levente Király’s performance placed him at the centre of attention again. Critics praised the assured command of his stagecraft and his capacity for continual renewal, enabling his understanding of the role and his empathetic insight to always come through with clarity. As one critic observed: “Levente Király is the best (and most seasoned) Zsótér actor on the stage. His Lear is devastatingly ordinary. An average man kneaded together from good and bad qualities alike, thoroughly battered by life, who can reproach no one but himself. Király presents him with remarkable balance and depth, combining grandeur with pettiness, and allows him to develop fully by the end as a man reconciled with his fate [27].”

One of the highest honours of his career was conferred on him on 21 September 2006, coinciding by chance with the Day of Hungarian Drama. The Eleven Actors of the Nation unanimously elected him to join their ranks, making Levente Király the first holder of the title to have spent his entire career at a provincial theatre. Furthermore, since 2013, he has been a full member of the Section of Theatre Arts of the Hungarian Academy of Arts. In addition, he is the recipient of numerous other awards. The sheer number of these honours attests to the fact that, although his career may initially have attracted less attention because he worked in Szeged, his many large-scale performances, together with the sympathetic private individual behind these roles, have earned him both professional recognition and popular acclaim. Even with a substantial body of theatre and film roles behind him, he approaches his profession with the same humility and curiosity as he did as a freshly graduated young actor when he first stepped onto the stage in Szeged. As he himself maintains: “There is never any certainty before a premiere. Any actor who says, ‘I’ll be brilliant in this role’, is ridiculous. If an engineer is commissioned to design a house, he can say with a confidence it will be sound and will not collapse. However, our profession is much harder to measure and far more unpredictable. In any case, I’ve always been a natural sceptic [28].”

Although Levente Király calls himself a natural sceptic, his highly acclaimed career clearly contradicts this self-assessment. The critic Tamás Koltai, who followed Király’s career from his early years and already recognised his qualities in the early years, wrote on one occasion that Király’s talent continued to deepen over the years. He says that “it may have been during Telihay’s staging of Chekhov’s The Wood Demon that I first became fully aware of his qualities, by watching how seriously and leisurely he played a landowning father doting on his son; then later, in Zsótér’s productions, his monumental simplicity unfolded, first as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, within an American dream framed by the fairy tale of The Wizard of Oz, where a childlike soul wandered about in a corpulent body. By then, it was enough for him simply to appear on stage, and seemingly, he did not have to do anything at all (when does an actor reach the point at which ‘doing nothing’ suffices, when his very presence fills the role with substance, and how many of them ever reach this stage at all?)… [29]”

[2016]

[1] Zsuzsanna Sándor, Az örömszínész. Király Levente hűségről és szeretetről. [lit. The Joyful Actor: Levente Király on Loyalty and Love], 168 óra, 9 November 2006

[2] „Mindig le lehetett mérni, elégedett-e valamelyikükkel vagy nem. Ha igen, akkor tegezte, ha nem, akkor magázta." [lit. “You could always tell whether he was satisfied with someone or not. If he was, he addressed them informally; if not, formally.”], in László Dalos, Válogatott jelenések. Király Levente. [lit. Selected Scenes. Levente Király], Film Színház Muzsika, 7 February 1987

[3] Fix Tv, Bóta Café, Levente Király, interviewer: Gábor Bóta, 22 January 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6t0wkkESkM

[4] Tamás Márok, Levente, aki nem színésztípus. [lit. Levente, Not a Typical Actor], Páholy, Szeged, May 1996

[5] Éva Szakály, Csak Levente [lit. Only Levente], Vas Népe, 9 June 1988

[6] Zoltán Lőkös, Romeo és Júlia. Shakespeare-tragédiával nyitotta évadját a Szegedi Nemzeti Színház. [lit. Romeo and Juliet. The Szeged National Theatre Opened Its Season With a Shakespeare Tragedy], Délmagyarország, 24 September 1961

[7] N. N., Mária főhadnagy. Bemutató a Szegedi Nemzeti Színházban. [lit. Lieutenant Mária. Premiere at the Szeged National Theatre], Dél-Magyarország, 10 December 1963

[8] Zoltán Polner, Huszka: Mária főhadnagy. Operettbemutató a szegedi színházban. [lit. Lieutenant Mary. Operetta Premiere at the Szeged National Theatre], Csongrád Megyei Hírlap, 9 December 1973

[9] László Akácz, Irma, te édes! Világjáró musical a Szegedi Nemzeti Színházban. [lit. Irma la Douce. A World-Travelling Musical at the Szeged National Theatre], Csongrád Megyei Hírlap, 21 December 1965

[10] András Barta, Egy fiú és a tündér. Görgey Gábor és Illés Lajos álomvígjátéka a szegedi színházban. [lit. A Boy and the Fairy, A Dream-Like Comedy by Gábor Görgey and Lajos Illés at the Szeged National Theatre], Magyar Nemzet, 3 November 1974

[11] Tamás Márok, Hekela Hasekje. Király svejthette. [lit. Hekela’s Hašek, Király’s Švejk], Reggeli Délvilág, 24 October 1994

[12] Éva Szakály, Szeged ismét Szombathelyen! [lit. Szeged Returns to Szombathely], Vas Népe, 16 June 1984

[13] Tamás Barabás, Hegedűs a háztetőn. Szegediek a Nemzetiben. [lit. Fiddler on the Roof. Szeged Performers at the National Theatre], Esti Hírlap, 10 March 1987

[14] Zoltán Polner, Bock-Stein: Hegedűs a háztetőn. Bemutató a Szegedi Nemzeti Színházban. [lit. Bock-Stein: Fiddler on the Roof. Premiere at the Szeged National Theatre], Csongrád Megyei Hírlap, 13 October 1986

[15] Fix Tv, Bóta Café, Levente Király, 22 January 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6t0wkkESkM

[16] A Király. Portréfilm Király Leventéről. [lit. The King. A Portrait Film of Levente Király], directed by Juli Sára, Hungarian Academy of Arts, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8rujCxRFDo

[17] István Sándor L., Régi és új színház? Arthur Miller: Az ügynök halála. [lit. Old and New Theatre? Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman], Színház, April 1998

[18] N. N., Miller bemutató. Az ügynök magára ismer. [lit. A Miller Premiere. The Salesman Recognises Himself], Dél-Magyarország, 12 December 1997

[19] The latter also portrayed the salesman in Szeged in a production directed by István Komor in 1963.

[20] Tamás Márok, A nyugdíjas, akit fölfedeztek. [lit. The Retiree Who Was Discovered], Zsöllye, March 2004

[21] Gábor Bóta, „Örömszínész vagyok”. [lit. I Am a Joyful Actor], Magyar Hírlap, 3 February 1998

[22] Tamás Koltai: Sikergyár. [lit. The Success Machine], Élet és Irodalom, 27 March 1998

[23] Péter Molnár Gál, Falstaff: Király Levente. [lit. Falstaff: Levente Király], Népszabadság, 26 May 1999

[24] Tamás Koltai, Meghalt a király, éljen a király! [lit. The King Is Dead, Long Live the King], Élet és Irodalom, 18 June 1999

[25] Tamás Koltai, A gondolkodás hedonistája, [lit. A Hedonist of Thinking], Színház, April 2002

[26] Péter Molnár Gál, Tatarozott Bertolt Brecht. A Galilei élete a szegedi Tantusz kamaraszínházban. [lit. A Revamped Bertolt Brecht. Life of Galileo at the Tantusz Chamber Theatre, Szeged], Népszabadság, 4 February 2022

[27] Judit Csáki, Játék a menzán. Shakespeare: Lear király. [lit. Playing in the Canteen. Shakespeare: King Lear], Magyar Narancs, 8 November 2007

[28] N. N., Levente lefogyott Lomanért. Egy végtelenül tágas szerep. [lit. Levente Lost Weight for Loman. A Role of Infinite Scope] Páholy, Szeged, December 1997

[29] Tamás Koltai, Királydráma. Egy mondat Király Leventéről. [lit.. A Regal Performance. A Single Sentence on Levente Király], Premier, April 2002