This year’s Kosovo Theatre Showcase will feature a range of international speakers including Mark Ravenhill, Oliver Frljić and Maja Salkić.
The centrepiece of this year’s Kosovo Theatre Showcase,, which takes place in Prizren between 6–8 November, is the [De]contaminating the Truth conference which brings together directors, playwrights, dramaturgs, critics and theatre managers from across Europe for five panels over three days.
Qendra Multimedia organized, curated, and produced the program, which combines theconference with performances and work-in-progress presentations at Autostrada Hangar, Doku Kino, and the Bekim Fehmiu City Theatre in Prizren.
The opening panel The Truths We Inherited, takes place on November 6 and examines how artists from the former Yugoslavia have been influenced by nationalism, the 1990s wars, and contested histories. It features Zana Hoxha, Maja Salkić and Andrej Nosov, and is moderated by Borisav Matić. On 7 November, Director vs. Playwright (Gianina Cărbunariu, Mark Ravenhill, Data Tavadze, Sebastian Nübling; moderator Nick Awde) asks whether truth by consensus is more valid today than truth told by a single voice. It is followed by Is a Better World Possible? Or Is Theatre Just Another Political Battleground? with Sara Abbasi, Oliver Frljić and Mattias Andersson, moderated by Natasha Tripney. A fourth panel, Theatre That Programmes; Theatre That Is Programmed, examines political and financial pressures on public theatre programming, with Petra Brylander, Miguel Loureiro, Lea Maria Unterseer and Daniel Mayer, moderated by Ulricha Johnson. The conference closes on 8 November with Weaponization of Truth, featuring Agata Tomšič, Marcel van der Steen and Mischa Twitchin, moderated by Tom Mustroph.
The performance programme opens on 6 November with They Are All Gone, written by Doruntina Basha and directed by Andrej Nosov, starring Mirjana Karanović, Svetozar Cvetković and Alban Ukaj. Produced by Heartefact Fund, SARTR and My Balkans, the play centres on Sadika, a survivor of the Srebrenica genocide living in a Dutch nursing home. On 7 November, Qendra Multimedia and the Bekim Fehmiu City Theatre present Kosovo Trilogy in Two Parts, written by Jeton Neziraj and directed by Blerta Neziraj, a satirical look at Kosovo’s EU aspirations and at Europe itself.
The Showcase closes on 8 November with Unrecognized, written by Davit Gabunia and Jeton Neziraj and directed by Data Tavadze. The international co-production, involving theatres from Kosovo, Georgia, Ukraine, North Macedonia and Sweden, draws on the myth of Iphigenia in Tauris to explore war, displacement and contested borders. The same day also includes a work-in-progress presentation of Under the Uniform by Ukraine’s Bentegy Theatre and Nashi Theatre Club, developed during a residency in Prizren, a pitching session of new theatre initiatives, and a presentation of new writing by participants in the International Playwrights Workshop led by Mark Ravenhill.
For more information, visit: qendra.org
Divna Stojanov is a dramaturg and playwright. She writes mainly for children and young people.
