Jakab Tarnóczi (HUN)
Authors / Theater / Directors / Theater
was born in Hungary in 1994. After completing his A-levels, he studied directing, specialising in musical theatre, at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest. During his studies, he collaborated with several theatres, including the Szigligeti Theatre in Oradea, the Thalia Theatre in Budapest, the Hungarian State Opera and the Katona József Theatre in Budapest. Since 2021, he has been a resident director and a member of the Artistic Advisory Board at the Katona Theatre, where, following several productions of classical plays, he has created his first original stage projects (God, Homeland, Family (2021), Lonely Lives (2022), Ecstasy (2023) and Radical Relax (2024)).
His experimental production Melancholy Rooms was invited to the Lessingtage festival in Hamburg in 2023 – marking his entry into the German-speaking theatre scene. His award-winning multimedia installation winterreise.box, based on his production of Winterreise at the Örkény Theatre in Budapest, represented Hungary at the 2023 Prague Quadrennial.
Since 2021, he has also been teaching at the FreeSzfe Association.
Awards / Prizes (selection)
Nestroy nomination for ‘Best Newcomer’ 2025
Junior Prima Award 2023
Named ‘most promising young artist’ by the Hungarian Theatre Critics’ Association in 2019
Productions (Theater) / Works
Requiem (written and staged by Jakab Tarnóczi)
25.04.2026
Katona Jósef Theater, Budapest
Requiem is a cross-generational Hungarian family saga centred on four women: a larger-than-life grandmother, her daughter and daughter-in-law – with whom she has a strained relationship – and her granddaughter, who returns home from abroad. We gain insights into three stages in the life of the family and their community, which are shaped by the themes of birth and death.
The production is a collaborative experiment by Jakab Tarnóczi and his creative team exploring how theatre can address a nation’s state of mind, its anxieties and its micro-communities – and whether it is still possible to believe in a shared future.
Wir töten Stella by Marlen Haushofer
06.02.2026
Schauspielhaus Graz
The promised Land by Asiimwe Deborah Kawa
01.06.2025
Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel, Munich
Rutherford & Sohn by Githa Sowerby
11.01.2025
Schauspielhaus Graz
Das Gastmahl by Jakab Tarnóczi, Sara Gabor and the cast
28.03.2024
Theater Aachen