Albanian theatre under dictatorship
(Aspects of the evolution of theatre in Albania during 1944-1990)
ISSN 1582-327X / ISSN 2344-4460
Abstract
The evolution of Albanian theatre
between 1944 and 1990 mirrors the deformation and even unnatural extraction of
Eastern societies’ conflicts from plays and performances. Simultaneously with
the establishment of the so-called dictatorship of the proletariat, to
these societies were imposed the method of socialist realism. According to
documents and testimonies, for four decades, the pressure on theatre in Albania
has been harsher than in any other totalitarian society. Authors and directors
who did not conform to the theses of socialist realism (cyclically taken to
extremes by single-party directives) were sentenced to prison or deported. It
can be said that, between 1944 and 1990, the Albanian theatre was moved away
and isolated at a destructive distance from the tragedies the general public
was going through. The real theatre of the Albanian society in the late 1980s
took place outside the performance halls, proving as never before the
expression life is theatre and theatre is
life.
Topics
Albanian theatre; socialist realism; censorship; propaganda