TIRANA, Nov. 28- History will be shown in Albania for the first through the immersive theatre, in which actors and audience will be integrated in an authentic screenplay and experience together parts of the true history, which might no longer exist in papers. The experimental initiation will bring itself in the spaces of Bunk’Art 1 in the first two weeks of December 2018. The organizers have as an objective restaging the play in the upcoming year too.
‘’We have appointed six typical characters of communist history, and it is their duty to show students and visitors their part of the story, this, naturally seen with a contemporary eye,’’ explained the curators.
The idea came from Bunk’Art general curator Carlo Bollino, the texts are written by journalist Admirina Peci, and the general organization is made from Ergys Gezda, the executive director of ‘’Qendra Ura’’ (Bridge Center) NGO, which administers Bunk’Art 1. The chosen figures are an Albanian guerrilla, an Italian soldier, a German soldier, a school teacher and an intelligence officer (from communism’s Sigurimi). The sixth character is dictator Enver Hoxha, who will talk about his role and most of all of his mistakes through a unique and original scene setting.
The visitors will have a chance to meet the actors in the existing spaces of the bunkers, while their histories will be told in the Parliament hall of Bunk’Art 1. During the representation a documentary on the history of Albania’s bunkarage will be shown, a less known history chapter especially for the young generations. After the show a debate will take place, where visitors and students can direct questions to the day’s invited guests, and also share their emotions and perspectives acquired by the surroundings or their experiences.
Immersion as a spectacle method was born during the period of the Cambodian genocide in the end of ‘70s. No documents or proofs existed on what happened, as all the footage was destroyed. Thus the people decided to reconstruct the events using art and memory. They wanted to reconnect with the occurrences and once again experience what happened, and leave a trace of history behind through these means.
The immersive theatre, which is quite popular in London, makes the audience active and offers it a freedom to follows its instincts in building the history which is being confessed, without a distinction of stage and parquet. In the immersive theatre the space is one, and the actors and onlookers move together, linked by the inevitable interaction that exists between the bodies which cohabit in an environment, be it conscientious or not. This is the first time that an immersive theatre takes place in Albania, particularly to tell the story of a dark period of this country.
