In the framework of Kosovo Theatre Showcase, the premiere of the play ‘Balkan Bordello’ by Jeton Neziraj and directed by Blerta Neziraj will be performed on Wednesday at Oda Theatre in Prishtina.

This play is a coproduction of La MaMa Theatre from New York, Qendra Multimedia from Prishtina, theatre Atelje 212 from Belgrade and Foundation My Balkans from New York and Belgrade. In this play are engaged a cast of 10 American, Serbian and Albanian actors:  Onni Johnson, Svetozar Cvetković, George Drance, Eugene the Poogene, Valois Mickens, John Maria Gutierrez, Mattie Barber-Bockelman, Ivan Mihailović, Matt Nasser and Verona Koxha.

Based on the Aeschiles’ trilogy, the play “Balkan Bordello’, touches on the very fabric of the Balkan temperament with black humor, traces the morbidity of the human soul and highlights the stupidity and naiveté of an era being built on the foundations of violence, intolerance and hatred.

As a consequence of this mentality, the characters surrender to fate and nearly unconsciously fall into the trap of discontent and destruction. ‘Balkan Bordello’ is a play about traumatized societies that eat themselves. ‘Balkan Bordello’ is an epic tale for the age of insanity we are currently living in.

Democracy cannot be taken for granted. The battle for it must be ongoing. Any fluctuation from this goal gives way to ghosts of war, abusers of power and autocrats who see the fate of the societies they rule as a game of Russian roulette. The same examples we had yesterday, we still have today. The bloodied Balkans of the 90s and the Balkans thirsting for revenge now.

“Borrowing the setting from the Oresteia, play evokes an archetypal society which emerges from the war in a state of confusion, where the old order and power relations have been subverted, and the new does not seem to have any legitimacy because it is based on pure force”, has written the analyst and sociologist Anna Di Lellio for this play.

“In fact, very few things have changed since the Aeschylus’ play written in Ancient Greece: nothing can provide a reasonable explanation to human tragedies caused by other humans, and in this sense ‘Balkan Bordello’ addresses this meaninglessness through a specific humor which we know well”, explains Jeton Neziraj, the author of Balkan Bordello.

From the technical aspect, a number of well-known theatre professionals are engaged for this play. Music: Gabriele Marangoni. Stage design: Marija Kalabić. Costumes: Gabriel Berry. Choreographer: Gjergj Prevazi.  Visual and light concept: Nico de Rooij.

After the premiere in Prishtina, this play will be also performed in Gjilan and in Ferizaj within the program of Kosovo Theatre Showcase. During November, ‘Balkan Bordello’ will be performed in Tirana (6 November) and Belgrade (8 and 11 November) while during the March 2022 it will be shown at the prestigious theatre La MaMa in New York.

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