Kadare’s novel premiered as a drama

TIRANA, May 12 – The National Theatre will stage on Saturday, May 15, the premiere of a novel written by renowned Ismail Kadere and dramatized and directed by Fatos Haxhiraj. The drama will also be staged on May 16 at 20.00.
The drama based on the “Darka e Gabuar” (Wrong Dinner) novel was selected by the Artistic Board of the National Theatre among 16 Albanian plays racing in the drama competition earlier this month.
It tells the story of a mysterious dinner in the German occupied southern town of Gjirokastra in 1943 between a German commander and his Albanian university friend, a doctor in Gjirokastra. The mysterious dinner is later investigated by the Albanian communist authorities.
Selected for its originality, thrill and language, the play has been adapted and directed by Fatos Haxhiraj and will represent the Albanian National Theater in the Pan-National Drama Festival scheduled to be held in the next few weeks on the 65th anniversary of the theatre’s foundation.
Presenting the drama at the National Theatre, director Haxhiraj, who returns to the National Theatre after 20 years of living and working in Italy, said he chose the drama for its ideas and characters, convinced in the cast of actors he has picked to perform.
The cast of actors selected to perform in the play, including Ndricim Xhepa, Artan Imami, Bujar Asqeriu are ready to perform after one month of rehearsals.
“I believe we have selected a good team and we will make it,” said director Haxhiraj elaborating on the tragic, comical, ironic and often absurd fate of the drama’s characters.
Taulant Pustina will be the stage designer while Macedonia’s Blagoj Micevski the costume designer.
Several other books written by Kadare have also been successfully turned into movies and plays. Last year, Kadare won Spain’s Prince of Asturias literary Prize. He has been a perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize for literature. His novels and essays have been translated into more than 40 languages.