By Driton Fejzullahu
Last night I was in Skopje, at the play with the same title, at the Albanian Theater in Skopje. After the great disappointment I had in Ferizaj, from a play that dramatized the life and work of the prominent activist Ukshin Hoti. Last night I felt fulfilled that his philosophical, patriotic and national activity took a high turn, not only historical but also artistic. Last night's play made me reflect and experience deep emotions. To reflect on how a human being could overcome essential boundaries and transcend temporal dimensions?!
Between Stanislavski and Brecht
If any spectator enters the play, he will be faced with two typologies, that of the requirement or prerequisite that the actor must deal more with the psychology carried by the character he plays, and at the same time identify with it, so that such a requirement was fulfilled by the actor Ylber Murtezi with precision. Ylber Muetezi, the actor who embodied Hoti, did not remain on the surface, on the contrary he synthesized the required artistic modalities, he not only experienced the character, but he carried it in body and voice, making his psychological, ideological and historical weight tangible. The play did not close only in this dimension, it broke it from within, opening it towards a critical dimension, where the dialogue was not only a narrative, but also an idea, it was a clash in history. It is here that the play achieves a rare balance that makes the spectator feel and at the same time not give in to the feeling, but think about the experience of the actor and the character he represented. As for the Brechtian requirement, I can also say that it has been exceeded, because the actor who played the role of Ukshin Hoti was an emancipatory character in the historical context but also in the dialectical one. The dialogues contained psychological elements (Stanislavski) as well as dialogues with ideological, political and historical content (Brecht).
Scenes as symbolism
The scene was arranged so beautifully and with so much meaning that it made me experience the drama more deeply. The scene was built with a symbolic clarity that did not need excesses. The bars were not just a scenic element, they carried the weight of an entire history of oppression not only of the individual but of the entire Albanian people. The presence of the letters brought the dialogue between Ismail Kadare and Ukshin Hoti closer, moving the drama from a closed space to a broader intellectual debate. While the cut bars were not simply a sign of liberation, but a double interruption of the individual and collective destiny of the Albanian people.
Ismail Kadare versus Ukshin Hoti
If seen from a historical-political perspective, Ukshin Hoti represents a figure beyond Sisyphean. In the political reality of that time, choosing sacrifice as a sacrifice and surrender, but sacrifice for the reflection of the entire people. Hoti's political and national revolt was sparked by the "stone" of condemnation and fate of the Albanian people. Ukshin Hoti clearly understood the fate and political direction Kosovo was heading, and it is the moment when the political illusion, naive and sterile hope, is dispelled, in a pure awareness of the progress of his people. Aware of the force and repressive power, if not radial, he became a symbol of a revolt not as an obligation of guilt, but as a major goal and duty of national history. The situation at that time needed an Ukshin, who would lift and push the weight of the "stone" and thus not give up.
The director, Naser Shatrolli, had selected the most substantial dialogues of the work "Beyond the Bars" where it is worth mentioning that the conditions of a conversation were diametrically unequal. As is known, and as has been proclaimed, if not interpreted, Kadare, (the literary dictator) apparently had a hidden desire to dominate every debate, and at the same time to impose his ideas which in the context were quite contaminated by the relations between Kadare and the communist government. Whoever has read the work, and whoever has seen the performance last night, has understood that in some aspects there have been disagreements, where time and history have proven Ukshin Hoti right. Such is the issue with the religious content of the Kosovar population, which has denied them their right to statehood and independence. The part about the genealogy of the Albanian people, the collective silence, and what is worth mentioning, the part about how an intellectual like Ukshin Hoti chose revolt, experienced prison, instead of remaining silent in the warmth of his family.
epilogue
The epilogue of the drama “Beyond the Bars” does not seek to close anything. It does not proclaim Ukshin Hoti as a finished figure, but as a crack in fate and a line that continues. In this sense, liberation is not presented as a completed act, but as a process that remains open. And perhaps this is where the greatest strength of the play lies. The play does not monumentalize the figure of Ukshin, but leaves him alive in the tension of our national history.
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