Music stops: Energy costs close Hungary theaters for winter
Theaters and other cultural institutions in Hungary are reeling from exponentially growing energy prices, and some plan to close for the winter to avoid the skyrocketing bills
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A theater in Hungary's capital will sit through a cold and quiet winter after its managers chose to shut it down rather than pay skyrocketing utility prices that are putting a squeeze on businesses and cultural institutions across Europe.
The 111-year-old Erkel Theatre in Budapest, one of three performance spaces of the prestigious Hungarian State Opera, will close its doors in November after exponentially rising energy bills made heating the 1,800-seat building unsustainable.
“We had to decide how we can save," said Szilveszter Okovacs, director of the Hungarian State Opera. "Even though it hurts to decide to close Erkel for a few months, it’s completely rational.”
The institution's energy bills have become "more expensive by eightfold, sometimes tenfold ... the order of magnitude is huge,” Okovacs said. “Something needed to be done because, after all, people’s wages ... are the most important.”
