On October 8, from 20:00 PM at the Barabar Center, the play "Eyes of the Wolf" premiered, dramatized by Doruntina Basha, directed by Kushtrim Koliqi.
After a long wait for the performances, especially the premieres, the public had the opportunity to see the performance that deals with the theme of three generations of women through whom the story of war rapes (traumas) is narrated; the children born from these rapes.
(A) dare we speak
The three characters (out of four) of the play (women) will confront themselves and each other in a tense, stifled language, too depressing to be ordinary. And beyond all this, what connects the characters, or rather, what tries to connect them in a relationship that for years has not been properly connected, is the stage (room) in which the play is played. The placement of the tents hanging to dry changes shape until the end, the way they are placed on the wire, changes with the change of events, until the end when the entire room opens and is clearly seen in it.
The play's metaphors are several. The most powerful scenes are those of opening accounts. The scenes of Lume (Edona Reshitaj) and Gjyshe (Irena Aliu) –
when they address the other by addressing themselves, reminding each other of the act of crime, the development of the event – these are powerful scenes, but rare. They are sporadic, perhaps because bad memories themselves should be treated that way, we have been taught to treat them as such, distant, forgetting them as a necessity and not discussing them as reinforcement, and we then learn it very well, the actors on stage do it well.
The birth of Dila (Albina Krasniqi) occurred as a result of rape. Her mother and Dila do not have a healthy relationship, they do not communicate, they cannot love each other, and this is because of the traumas of her mother, who has not forgotten. However, she cares and when she does, she usually does it more than necessary. The eyes of Dila and her father (the rapist) are the same, eyes that run in search of prey, but do not choose the crowd, unless the crowd pleases them.
The three female characters speak. They may have spoken more, but bad memories should not be spoken about often. Therefore, the female characters will lead ordinary lives, but, let's not forget, too depressing to be ordinary.
In reading, not in actions
Children, the product of sexual violence, are not recognized by law in Kosovo. There are no exact figures, no accurate research, no accurate data is known. The realization of such a show is courageous and necessary. Children born from rape, about whom it is not known exactly how many there are, belong to a category that is even invisible, unnoticeable. We do not know them, perhaps they do not even know themselves.
In the texts of such plays, the care to be both narrative and ethical can be difficult, but not impossible. Through the character of Lume, we see a woman who, although a survivor, must remain strong, a part of her does not recover, does not revive, and most importantly, she does not rejoice. The act of violence against her goes beyond being an individual harm, over time it becomes attached to the regrets of others and the “guilt” of the innocent product.
The grandmother's character is one of neutrality, of the desire to forget, sometimes of regret, and more often of pain and silence.
Dila is the openness that is not required. The half-hearted joy and the most painful question of her identity whenever she crosses the boundaries of the 'ordinality' of the family.
Beyond that, the abuser (Armend Smajli) in the show is invited for 3-4 minutes. He is returned by the victim of violence with or without grace. His character is not easy to deal with, so he is invited with difficulty. And yet he is there, he has been there.
What more?
Even though the theater scene in Kosovo lacks authentic performances related to the war and its consequences, and generally with similar themes, ensuring that these productions are artistically fulfilled, in addition to being documentary, is a duty.
The main problem of the play is the setting. A remote hut on a remote mountain, with three women almost hermetically sealed inside, is a bit far from the reality of events in Kosovo. When we intervene in this way, we are always talking about an event that happened in our country. The characters and the event are a bit more fabulous than real, at times. As already said, the children who were born from rape during the war in Kosovo, we do not know exactly where they are and how many, and yet they live with all of us, among all of us.
A disagreement between a mother and her child after so many years is a bit strange. If the mother and child survive the stigmatization, prejudice, and reach a truce with the past (especially the mother), then 'peace' between them is achieved before the child enters adolescence, although this is not an absolute truth.
The absence of the perpetrator on stage and his limited participation are understandable, but no, the confrontation is more than what is required by the course of the story itself, a more powerful confrontation, and not without reason. The show continues for more than an hour with the entrances and exits of the three female characters, with their dialogues, we learn enough about the ordinary and unusual of their lives, and in the end the entrance of the "negative character" seems to leave us disappointed in our expectations.
The play is about the narration of the event and the life after it, we see little narration and a lot of description of the life after it. The explanation of the event, its source (perhaps intentionally) slips easily, unnoticed and is barely present.
In a family (such as the one in "Eyes of the Wolf"), in our country, after the war and even today, in rural areas, such a language is not spoken, the language is quite ordinary, perhaps even vulgar at times.
…
"Eyes of the Wolf" is a courageous play. Such a theme, although overdue to be addressed, is needed in the calendars of our theaters. All the characters of the play and its creators themselves, with the theme they put on stage, create a kind of resistance to the documentation of events that have determined the fate of many people in our country, and continue to determine it today.
Women raped during the war in Kosovo and beyond that the children born from these rapes, constitute a part of history that is both the most important and the most silent at the same time. The “exit” of the play is individual responsibility and collective conscience. She ceases to be a character in the play, when behind her someone searches for, the same fates of other children and women, with the same fate. The archives of these events can be truncated, but their importance is not.
"The Eyes of the Wolf" transcends ordinary theater and becomes our true drama. Our former drama, the memory of that time and the silence of today.
Actors: Irena Aliu, Edona Reshitaj, Armend Smajli and Albina Krasniqi.
Directed by: Kushtrim Koliqi
Playwright: Doruntina Basha
The show will be repeated on October 9, 10 and 11, at the Barabar Center in Pristina, starting at 20:00 PM.
/Express newspaper
edition
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