Oedipus the King joins Albania, Kosovo national theatres

TIRANA, March 4 – Ancient Greek tragedy Oedipus the King is bringing together the Albanian and Kosovo national theatres in the first premiere in Tirana for the 2013 season.
Kosovo director Ilir Bokshi is already making the last preparations with his selected cast of Albanian actors for the tragedy which will make its premiere on March 8, the International Women’s Day. “We will bring current issues based on ancient times. We will focus on Sophocles’ text, but the analysis and situation will be from current times. History and characters are basic to the play but not in our stage,” says Kosovo director Ilir Bokshi.
Helidon Fino, Yllka Mujo, Neritan Licaj and Ema Andrea have been given the key roles in the drama.
Directed by Kosovo’s Ilir Bokshi, the tragedy will come as cooperation between the Albanian and Kosovo national theatres, staging for three consecutive evenings from March 8 to 10.
The director of the National Theatre Kristaq Skrami describes Bokshi as one of the most creative directors of the younger generation, appreciated not only in the pan-Albanian spaces. “This premiere comes as a co-production between the Albanian and Kosovo theatres. The Kosovo theatre is bringing the managing cast such as the director, the composer, the stage and costume designers while Albania will provide the performers,” Skrami says.
In his first experience in Albania, director Bokshi brings both originality and the carefully introduces Albanian musical elements.
“Considering the rituals the Albanian group performs, this easily leads to the Albanian tradition. The chorus includes the polyphony inspired by southern traditional Albanian songs, which will be edited. According to Kadare, the polyphonic group is the real successor of the ancient chorus. It is a product of the people and not something made by composers, and this is what makes the Albanian polyphony as ancient as the antiquity.
Originally proclaimed in 2005, folk iso-polyphony was inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage. Derived from Byzantine church music, Albanian Iso-polyphony is a sophisticated form of group singing, performed mostly by men.
“It is my first experience with Albanian stage actors. Things are going well and I am satisfied with their commitment and punctuality about this work. This is an attribute to have a good stage.
In the theatre everything must work as a group and not individually,” says Bokshi.
Oedipus the King, also known by the Latin title Oedipus Rex, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed c. 429 BCE. It was the second of Sophocles’s three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone. Oedipus Rex chronicles the story of Oedipus, a man who becomes the king of Thebes who was destined from birth to murder his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. The play is an example of a classic tragedy, noticeably containing an emphasis on how Oedipus’s own faults contribute to the tragic hero’s downfall, as opposed having fate be the sole cause.