György Dörner

Actor György Dörner was appointed head of Budapest's Új Színház (New Theatre) by Mayor István Tarlós, effective 1 February 2012. Once it was announced, the far-right biker group Gój Motorosok said they would attend the theatre's opening performances as a group — an announcement Dörner publicly welcomed, saying 'Let the bikers come, let them buy subscriptions.' His directorship was renewed in 2016 and again in 2021; on the latter occasion Human Resources Minister Miklós Kásler appointed him for a further five years from February 2022, even though the theatre building is owned by the City of Budapest — full maintainer authority and employment decisions rest with the national ministry rather than the municipality. He received the Kossuth Prize in March 2020. Following the 2026 change of government, the new state secretariat for culture introduced mandatory leadership competency assessments and a 'zero tolerance' policy on workplace abuse on 31 July 2026, and opened public competitions for the director's post at both the Madách Theatre and Új Színház — leaving Dörner's decade-and-a-half tenure uncertain at the time of writing.