Interview with the actress Ema Andrea (2009)
The National Theater and Nastradin’s nail
The artist Ema Andrea comments on the situation in the State Theater and for the Albanian theater as a whole.
Old mentality, non-enforcement of the law and flattening of values.
When the mentality does not change, when it is the same people who claim to be God and the same ones who throw stones, when the same cries of artists are heard, for Ema Andrea, the theater will remain what it is in Albania. At a time when the public is eager for good performances, to feel strong emotions, the National Theater suffers, not only the legacy of the past, but also the whims of the ministers, who change its leaders according to the colors of the parties and hometowns.
For the actress and stage director, the theater is still not finding itself, since for a long time, values in art have been circulating horizontally. For years, Ema Andrea has followed a path, not to say completely alone, on the theater stage. It should be noted that this artist has traveled this path over and over again outside the State Theater. She has never been part of the organic structure of this theater.
This is not the reason that Ema is strict in the conclusions she gives below, it is the experiences that she has had intensively these years with the stage and with the last word of stage art beyond the local borders of Albania.
In these two or three years, we have seen it in monodrama “I am from Albania” (actress), “Medea” (Medea), “City Wedding” by Bertolt Breht (director) and “Me syrin enjë klouni” by Hajnrih Bël , (actress and director).
As a person of the stage that you are, Ema, do you think that the theater has fallen prey to an institutional crisis?
First, let me say that the theater must be considered beyond an institution, dependent on the state or not. The good or the bad of the progress of this institution is, I think, carried over from the past, which has created this mentality, which I would not know how to define.
I would like not to think at all about the point of comparison with any experience, be it Balkan, European or beyond, because it would be a depressing effort, because the realities we would talk about are completely unrelated, in parallel dimensions, unfortunately never compatible, not even as an optical illusion.
More specifically, how would you comment on the “developments” at the National Theatre?
What developments are we talking about? Often, this institution seems to me like Nastradin’s nail for many ministers. Directors with different forms are often changed. I am not very sure about the administrative and artistic competences of the director of such an institution. I have not the slightest idea on what criteria the latter are chosen.
And this, not because I don’t want to know, but because between the plebiscite form and the legal authority on which this election must be based, nothing is clear, or transparent…
In fact, it is simply transparent… No nothing is seen, in short.
Besides the change of directors, do you see any changes (for better or for worse) in TK?
Development means change and the change of names, or of some curtains, I don’t believe it means much for an institution. The mentality of those who during the week are the idealists who want to protect the theater has not changed, and the latter know very well the arrogant media forms, and the result is personal clashes. The mise-en-scene of the coffee shop where artists talk about change, development, and “how to do it” has not changed either. The eternal character of the “victim individual” has not changed, which collides with long ecco on the walls of this institution.
So how can we define what is happening in the theater?
A mess I would say. I believe that it comes from the fact, of the lack of law, or of legal implementation, which of course has to do only with the administrative side of the problem, and not at all with the artistic quality. And these two issues are worth discussing separately. We are talking about an institution whose value has always been called into question, due to ignorance or ignorance. Of course, for a long time in Albania, values are moving only in a horizontal direction.
I am sorry that here in general and especially art and culture continues to travel in this way, theater as part of culture and TK as an institution of great weight in theater. In fact, the time has come, sorry, we are late, for the vertical journey of values in this, now superficial, society. The mise-en-scene of the coffee shop where artists talk about change, development, and “how to do it” has not changed either. The eternal character of the “victim individual” has not changed, which collides with long ecco on the walls of this institution. A mess that comes from the fact of legal absence, which is only related to the administrative side of the problem, and not at all to the artistic quality.
Taken from “Shekulli” on line – 2009
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