PRISHTINA. The premeditated killing of a dream

About

Production team

Director: Blerta Neziraj
Actors: Armend Smajli, Verona Koxha, Shpëtim Selmani, Kushtrim Qerimi, Afrim Muçaj
Scenography: Alice Vanini
Costume: Njomza Luci
Music: Tomor Kuçi
Choreography: Gjergj Prevazi
Video: Besim Ugzmajli
Assistant Director: Gëzim Hasani
Artistic Director: Aurela Kadriu
Researcher and Artistic Player: Ag Demi & Atlas Institute
Dramaturgy: Jeton Neziraj
Lights: Mursel Bekteshi
Development Support: Sven Skoric
Translator: Alexandra Channer
Coordination: Flaka Rrustemi
Technical Support: Bujar Bekteshi, Adem Salihu, Nikolas Pipero, Arbresha Caka, Njomza Rexha.

Qendra Multimedia Production.

Shows

Venue

ODA Theater

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Other informations

The starting point of this play is a crime story, which took place 25 years ago, in the newly liberated Pristina that was being administered by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. According to unofficial data, over sixty percent of the Albanian villages of Kosovo were burned and destroyed during the war by the Serbian army and police. Therefore, when the war ended in June 1999, shelter was one of the most urgent issues for most people. The United Nations administration had no quick solution to this problem. But the ‘solution’ was offered by the underground people, the businessmen and construction companies who attacked to exploit this ‘fertile ground’ for personal gain. An entire society traumatized by the war, in an epic attempt to return to life, involuntarily submitted to this underground group that offered them housing ‘solutions’. Pristina began to overflow with buildings that sprang up overnight, of poor construction quality, without any urban plan and disregarding any construction criteria. Parks turned into construction sites, public space was reduced by construction. Small houses were demolished and skyscrapers sprang up on their lands. At that time, the architect and spatial planner of Pristina, Rexhep Luci, almost alone, was trying to establish urban control. But it was not the time for people to think about the future. Rexhep Luci had been threatened with death several times by underground people and then, on September 11, 2000, at the entrance to his apartment in Pristina, he was killed by unknown assassins. Rexhep Luci is like Ibsen's Dr. Stockman. Except that, for his truth about Pristina, he paid a much higher price. Today, the issue of illegal construction in Pristina and Kosovo has reached catastrophic proportions. By building in them without a plan and without control, our cities have become suffocating; public spaces unsafe and unfriendly. “Prishtina. Vrasja e paralajmëruar e një ëndrre” addresses these issues on stage and aims to invite us to rethink our relationship and responsibility for the city, at a time when this destructive cycle has been institutionalized and normalized. More than 25 years after the end of the war, the city of Pristina has been transformed into a huge construction site – perhaps the largest construction site on the planet. A parallel, ghost city, looms over it as a threat to life and the future.

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