Pál Göttinger graduated from the University of Theatre and Film Arts in 2007 after completing the theatre directing course headed by Gábor Székely, serving internships in the Polish city of Poznán and in London. His diploma production (Kornél Hamvai's Hell) was premiered at the Merlin Theatre. He has worked as a guest director with theatres in Budapest (the Bárka, Radnóti, Merlin, MU and Sirály theatres, Pinceszínház [Basement Theatre], Müpa Budapest, the Orlai Production Office, the Pest Hungarian Theatre, the Hungarian State Opera and the Katona József Theatre), elsewhere in the country (in Debrecen, Nyíregyháza, Tatabánya and Szombathely), outside of Hungary's borders (in the Romanian cities of Odorheiu Secuiesc, Târgu Mureș, Timișoara and Cluj-Napoca), with independent companies (Nézőpont Theatre, the KoMa Company, the Sputnik Naval Company, the K.V. Company and Nézőművészeti Kft.), as well as in ad hoc groups and in musical productions with amateur and semi-professional choruses (in Soharóza and Halastó). A collaborator on the Ördögkatlan (Devil's Cauldron) Festival since 2009, he has also been a member of the Bárka Theatre and Kaposvár's Csiky Gergely Theatre, and later served as the chief director at the Pest Hungarian Theatre. His stagings have largely been of dramas by contemporary authors: he was responsible for the first Hungarian productions of works of Dennis Kelly, Conor McPherson and Martin Crimp, among others, as well as the world premieres of works by János Háy and Péter Esterházy. He has directed Baroque, bel canto and contemporary operas (Gibbons' Cupid and Death, Jonathan Dove's The Enchanted Pig, Georgi Sztojanov's Hunger, and Verdi's I masnadieri), musical productions based on choral improvisation and both Hungarian and French operettas. Since 2014, he and Dániel Dinyés have jointly hosted the Opera Insider series at Budapest's Katona József Theatre. His first project after graduating (Dennis Kelly's Love and Money) was featured in the competitioin programme at the 2008 Pécs National Theatre Festival. His production a.N.N.a., created from Martin Crimp's written work Attempts on Her Life, won the prize for best directing at the 2009 Alternative Theatre Festival. He was awarded the Junior Prima Prize by the Prima Primissima Foundation in 2011 and the Pulcinella Award for his performance in the leading role in The Telephone Doctor at the Vidor Festival in 2014.
