Part Two
Ares Shporta: Let’s continue with Prague.
Luljeta Çeku: Prague {nods}.
Ares Shporta: And then we go back to Yugoslavia or what happened after Prague?
Luljeta Çeku: Yes, yes. Now, I had a very good opportunity in Prague to stay in the Academy, but I still couldn’t decide…
Ares Shporta: What year?
Luljeta Çeku: 1980. Because at the same time I went to the theater that I mentioned in Vinogradec for my internship, the theater where the great Aleksander Moisiu played, the actor with Albanian origin I also went to the Academy for Puppetry Theater. I was very interested to intern there also since I worked with children and Kosovo back then didn’t have a puppetry theater I wanted to make some experience so I could create the Puppetry Theater in Prizren, but that didn’t happen. First I felt like I wasn’t old enough when I was in Prague, and I thought that four years in the Academy would be too much for me.m
Back then I was 28 years old, but I still interned there, I got familiar with all kinds of dolls, what they’re called, their technique and so on. But when I came back to Prizren I went back working to the Culture Center as an actress. I asked for funds from the Culture Center, they didn’t have any, the Puppetry Theater was pricey, because you have to order them and we didn’t have that experience in Kosovo. We didn’t have people who made them, whatever kind they were, be it puppets or dolls or some other kind that is needed for that theater. It failed, that plan failed, unfortunately. But, in the meantime the Puppetry Theater started in Pristina, I am glad that my colleague Meli Qena achieved it. So, the Puppetry Theater was created in Kosovo and it fulfilled children’s requests.
That theater moves and comes to Prizren, Peja and other cities. So that was my goal, to do something in Prague that would be needed in Prizren. I was very interested in pantomime, because Prague is known for that, and I went to that theater that was a special kind of theater because Vladislav Fialka is one of the greatest pantomime actors of the world, after Marsej Marso, who is French. Unfortunately, that kind of theater was never applied in Kosovo by anyone, and another theater that I have to mention in Prague is Laterna Magica that is a kind of a special theater that the play with actors on the scene is accompanied by images in the background {points behind her}, which means films or dances and so on.
And this theater was a special experience for me, to go and see something no one else in the world except the Czechs do. So, my experience in Prague is, is excellent, so I was the only one lucky enough that as an actress to be in that city for a period of time and be in contact with the theater every night. There are so many theaters, so many beautiful projects that I will never forget. And something that is documented and maybe one day I can offer you the material of an interview for the Academy of Film in Prague that a student who finished the Academy interviewed me for… it’s in their archive. So, where I come from, my experiences, who I am as an Albanian, so they never heard of any Albanian woman who is a director, how I work there and so on. My experience in Prague, my opinion of the theater there, what I liked most, which projects and so on.
If I liked a show, I would go and watch it multiple times, I felt like watching them multiple times. There’s a play that I watched four times, Kočičí hra, which means “Cat’s Game,” by a writer who I first heard of there, Istvan Orkeni[1], Hungarian, who was the laureate in literature, I searched a lot here to find that text in whatever language I knew, so Serbo-Croatian or Croatian, but I haven’t found it. A wonderful performance at Tilovo Divatlo which is one of the most prestigious theaters in Prague. I mean I went to see it a few times, or Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, I went and saw it a few times because it was a great project.
But, another thing I can say about Prague in the theater Zabradli that is in the center of Prague, very near the Theater Academy, Vladislav Fialka also functions there, the pantomime. The actors of that theater were Vàclav Havel’s[2] right hand, I found out later, not then, because it was kept secret and I am glad I was close to those actors. Then I saw some interviews in newspapers of Yugoslavia like NIN and others, I don’t know if you know those newspapers of Belgrade or Zagreb, there was an actor, Bartoshka, who is one of the best theater actors, he was Havel’s best friend. So, I want to say that artists move things forward, so Havel was a playwright, and all these avant-garde theater actors were his supporters of change in Prague because I was there in the dark times of communism, the ‘80s.
I can say that when I went there from there, for example, from Belgrade to Prague by plane, Belgrade had a metropol with a lot of lights, while Prague was a wonderful city in the dark. I couldn’t understand why, what was happening in that country. Because, when I went to the theater late in the evening, as soon as the show was over, I came out of… full, it was always full because they have many beautiful theaters, big with many seats, more than a thousand and, for example, I parallelly went to concerts in Dvorak Osnin or Smetanov, so classical music concerts, I could hear my footsteps on the street, people disappeared, so it wasn’t lively. They were in revolt, but still everything functioned in art, just at the right level {raises her hand}.
I couldn’t understand why it was like that. While here {gestures towards herself} in Yugoslavia, as I said in Belgrade, everything was sparkling from advertisements, from lights. And this was my experience, how I saw Prague, even though Prague is a very beautiful city with amazing architecture. It’s the only city that includes all the architectural styles, from rococo[3], baroque[4], gothic[5] and so on. I didn’t understand the pressure intellectuals had back then. And in the dormitory where I lived, I would meet people from different cities, very talented, but very pessimistic about their future, and this is the story…
Ares Shporta: How did the return from Prague to Prizren happen?
Luljeta Çeku: A professor who I mentioned earlier insisted, “Stay in the academy, I will write the reference that you don’t have a puppetry theater. You can stay, I will help you register.” I didn’t accept, I said, “I’m working with amateurs in the Cultural Center, I love this job and I don’t think I can stay away from my family for four years.” It was the first time that I stayed away from my family for that long, I was very young. So I came back to the Cultural Center and I continued working, so with other projects. But my criteria increased, I wasn’t… before I had more courage to take {gestures drawing something toward herself} in directing. After the experience I had in Prague, I was very skeptical, because theater requires a lot, and I thought about what I could do better. And I wanted to get back to acting, to play, not just direct.
I convinced the staff at the Cultural Center to start collaborating with my other professional director colleagues, so they would come too, so it would not be repetitive or maybe I would not be able to always produce a good play. And we engaged other directors and we always were successful in festivals. One of them is Sfinga e gjallë [The living sphinx] with the late Sejfo Beto Krasniqi, a very talented director who studied in Zagreb. He was a graduate at that time and since he was born in Prizren he wanted to do his thesis in Prizren and he chose Sfinga e gjallë by Rexhep Qosja. So we mobilized and he wanted to engage other actors who finished acting after me, but that couldn’t get a job in the People’s Theater, and they were staying at home unemployed.
Like Bislim Muqaj {counts on his fingers} in Korisha, unemployed, a qualified actor who finished Shkolla e Lartë, the one I finished before him. Alush Sahitaj also, Samedin Latifi also in Pirane. These were professional actors who were educated but not employed. The theater wasn’t able to hire those who studied acting. So those times were hard for actors. And with the promises they made since the Professional Theater dissolved, as I mentioned earlier, for political reasons, Sejfo Beto Krasniqi tried to raise that debate again since he could be hired as a director and these actors to be hired there. But it wasn’t possible, there was resistance.
[The interview cuts here]
So the theater started after progress in Prizren with Sfinga e gjallë. We were part of the republican festival that was held in Kulla back then, and in Trebinje, which was a federative festival. People from all the republics and provinces came to that festival, Vojvodina and Kosovo had the biggest competition. But we gained a lot of sympathy, very much because it was a, a wonderful, very powerful play, and that year we won all the possible prizes of the festival, five golden masks. So, I can include myself because it was the first golden mask, because we got it for collective acting as actors, for directing, for scenography, for music, for effects, for everything, so all the awards that existed in that festival Sfinga e gjallë won them all.
After that year, our success was repeated several times with Erveheja directed by Fetah Mehmeti, where I was the lead role, I won the golden mask and the critics talked highly about my acting and the play in general. Then followed the play by Maksut Vezgishi, Maks, Proporcionet Hyjnore [Divine Proportions] which was different from the plays we had before. Of course, I wasn’t part of the project but I was there with them. I supported Maks, because I always approached him and even before he started directing, he did the scenography of the plays that we did there. But I must say one thing, in Prizren, I had very different concepts from the others, maybe I was also avant-garde at that time. The stage of the Cultural Center bothered me, that hall bothered me, it was too big, it was too classic and I was looking for another space. And I thought of the hammam and I asked the director Fetah Mehmeti, my now deceased colleague, to come and direct Anton Pashku’s Gof and only with women, that was my idea.
We didn’t have problems with it, I didn’t have problems with women engaging in Prizren. We were among the few who had more women in roles than men, and usually I would pick those parts where women were the main roles. And it was a beautiful play, but my only condition was to do the play in the hammam. And I went to the Institute for the Preservation of Monuments, it was called that then, I also asked the director how we can get the thea… hammam space. Not the first part, {explains with her hands} that second part that is inside {describes the scene with her hands} has as a small stage set up, it is used as a tile where they once bathed, because it was a public bathroom for all citizens.
And their answer was that it wasn’t under their control, it was property of vakf[6], and so on.
But they agreed that we could perform there and it was a great joy for all of us, it was a good experience, because I was responding to all the festivals in Yugoslavia then. I also went to Bitef in Belgrade, which was an international festival from all over the world where performances took place. I went to Sarajevo on experimental scenes and saw that plays can happen in any space, not just there. I was also in Dubrovnik. That space was also wonderful, meaning we didn’t need either scenography or effects, it was the atmosphere itself, especially for an absurd play like Gof by Anton Pashku.
And it was an extraordinary production, in public there were some foreigners because back then English lecturers would come to Shkolla e Larte, English Language Department. Even a couple from Turkey were there, I don’t know the reason why they came as tourists and they couldn’t believe that such a play was happening in Prizren. At the same time, the play was in ’86, the police curfew just started in Kosovo, and it was a very close space, very small, two policemen with automatic weapons {presents to be holding an automatic weapon} stood there and controlled the play. So, all of that contributed to the beauty of the play, the repression because the play also talked about something absurd. Because the text says all the time, “Let’s get out, let’s get out of something…” so on.
I will never forget those moments. It was a, a great play. But it wasn’t produced because my aim was to have an alternative scene that would be more attractive for tourism and for theater for smaller, roomy play, because we couldn’t always have enough audience to fill 424 chairs that were in the Cultural Center back then, it wasn’t possible. In a small city, you can’t expect the hall to be filled in every replay of the show, it’s impossible. They either have to be smaller shows, with a smaller audience which gradually can be built into an proper audience for theater, to have an audience for the whole year, not just for the premiere.
In this aspect, I don’t see these changes even today, although this year, since I was a little engaged with the celebration of Lidhja e Prizrenit, I tried to make a very small performance at the Stone Bridge, so a show that can take place anywhere in any space in Prizren. Anywhere, small shows, attractive shows because we don’t have plenty of space. But going back to the ‘80s, even though there was some cultural life in the city, not one that was very satisfying, but it still existed. Skopje’s theater which was called Theater of Nations back then because it was Albanian and Turkish, they were regular visitors of shows in Prizren, their shows were played there. There were shows from Belgrade, Ljuba Tadić also was there, a great Jugoslav theater actor, Serbian, he played in Sufokla, it was an amazing show, a perfect monodrama.
So, time after time, we had shows from the National Theater, both Albanian and Serbian dramas. Even Gjakova’s theater, even local theaters if they were amateur, from Peja or from other cities, and so on. Cinema filled this cultural gap, there were two cinemas in Prizren, I was a regular visitor. My parents before me were the same, I was educated in that environment, my parents went to the cinema all the time, we were little they always left us… so, this was the entertainment of people in Prizren, going to the movies, movies were always selected.
The repertoire was excellent for that time, so all those movies that were performed in Hollywood came to Prizren at that time and I was a regular, in the hall that is now called Lumbardhi and in that other center now that became Evropa, or as it was called then Kino Radnik [Worker Cinema]. We watched movies regularly and the cinema had an extraordinary audience that the audience was always full, we always had to buy the ticket ahead of time {extends her hand as if she’s giving something} we didn’t go and go in immediately, no, they were always sold out. There was a lot of interest.
The cultural life was complemented by the arts and culture societies which were based in the city of all nations and nationalities, as we referred to them at the time. Along with the theater, I was also a member of the Agimi Society, and their concerts oftentimes were good, not very often, but they were quite good and successful. Also, the experience I had in that society was grand. Because if today you can travel anywhere, back then, at that time, at that age we didn’t have the opportunity to travel much. I was lucky that at the age of 15, 16 to go to Germany with the Agimi Society, for example. That was a great experience, because the city of Prizren and Bingen were twinned and that tradition continues.
So they have the Bingen Fest, they collaborated with Progress, a Prizren-based company and the wine producers of Krusha e Madhe and Rahovec. So, for the first time as a 16-year-old, I flew by plane, at that time, it was rare and out of the ordinary. The same trip we took two years after with the Agimi Society to a festival in Turkey, in Italy, and many other places in Yugoslavia. We also participated in the Olympics in Sarajevo, I led the Society’s concert. We were invited to the Olympics in 1984. And if today we talk about the amatuer activities without payment, at that time it was better because as much as we gave to the community, voluntarily, free of charge, without compensation, we have also received something from that community because we traveled a lot, and those are the rewards that the amateur has from all these festivals.
If we talk about amatuer theater, I couldn’t reward them in any way because the BVI for culture at that time or the Municipality budget wasn’t enough to even offer them drinks during rehearsals. They wanted to be part of festivals, to travel. That was a very unique experience for all of us, because youth and their parents could not afford it, not all parents could afford to have their children travel to other countries. That was the satisfaction and the reward that you got, of course, you also received a certificate, an acknowledgement for your role that you played, and that was very satisfying for us.
So, I acted in Prizren from 1972 until 1992, when the dismissal of Albanian workers began. So the blow was especially on the intellectuals, and of course I was one of those who didn’t sign that worthless document of the Republic of Serbia that I accept it as my state. That’s how it was formulated, a small paper {gestures the paper}, which had neither a signature nor a stamp, nor anything. And I said, “I won’t sign it because I don’t know who sent it to me.” But of course the next day I was fired. But with other threats in advance saying I wasn’t obedient, I didn’t come in time to rehearsals, at work, other things in vain.
So, their goal was to get me out of there. Not just me, but also some other coworkers who didn’t sign that document. So we always were under pressure, especially after the demonstrations of ‘81. It wasn’t for Albanians in general in an area we worked on, we were always looked at from another angle. We always had obstacles, but as Albanians, we had a moral and professional obligation to give whatever we can, because this was our country and we wanted to go further, but to forget, to leave some trail for the coming generations and to work as correctly as possible, with the utmost sincerity. Although often we weren’t rewarded as much as we deserved, so the salaries weren’t much, but those times were like that.
Of course, there are a lot of obstacles even today, especially in culture, there isn’t much support, but I see enthusiasm in youngsters who excite me with the dedication and ideas they have. Especially in Prizren, a miracle is happening since the cinema doesn’t have that pressure anymore. Now I follow different programs that happen at Lumbardhi apart from Dokufest, which is a great festival, but Lumbardhi is bringing back its charm and we have to work towards picking good, deserving movies. So that audience comes back, and gradually creates an audience of young people and all ages of course, so this city can function better, because Prizren has turned into a touristic town which is liked by the visitors.
But something more needs to be done in terms of culture, beautiful things have to happen, because we have different environments where a show and a chamber orchestra can perform, and some soloists or some… and painters should be present in the streets, for example painting. Something that would be even more liked by visitors. In this regard, Dokufest took a very big step, which is a very nice thing that happened. I have been following this festival since the beginning of its existence, even though I don’t live here all the time. But during the summer I come to this festival. But one genre isn’t enough. So this city should function throughout the year and something should happen every month or several times a month, different concerts, different performances.
[The interview cuts here]
Open almost… international… throughout the year, throughout the whole year, in different genres, not just… I’m talking, I mean it should be theater also, performances of different genres, ballet and pantomime or something else that can happen.
Ares Shporta: I want to thank you for the interview, I believe your work will continue.
Luljeta Çeku: I don’t know (smiles) {joins hands}.
Ares Shporta: It was a very nice experience, and a journey through time, you reflected in detail around 20 years. You gave many ideas.
Luljeta Çeku: I had many more things… {puts her hands up}
Ares Shporta: We wanted to continue about when people were getting fired, but we concluded that part of the interview in a way.
Luljeta Çeku: Yes.
[1] István György Örkény (1912-1979) was a Budapest-based Hungarian writer whose plays and novels often featured grotesque situations.
[2] Václav Havel (1936-2011) writer and political dissident, who served as the last President of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992, and then as the first President of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003 As a writer of Czech literature, he is known for his plays, essays and other literary works.
[3] A style of architecture and decoration that flourished in Western Europe in the eighteenth century and was distinguished by its elaborate variety of strange and exaggerated shapes and lines.
[4] Baroque is a highly ornate and often extravagant style of architecture, music, painting, sculpture and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century to the mid-18th century. It followed the Renaissance style and preceded the Rococo style (in the past often referred as the “Late Baroque”) and the Neoclassical styles.
[5] Gothic art is an artistic period which lasted about four hundred years, first beginning to develop in northern France, in the second half of the twelfth century, while in the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it dominated the construction of Central Europe. The word Gothic (arte gotica) is derived from Giorgio Vasari, who thought that this style had to do with barbarian peoples, although with the Goths this style had nothing in common.
[6] Vakf, Also known as Vakıf, is an institution introduced by the Ottoman Empire which was responsible for keeping the records of the Muslim community of the empire and which generally included a Madrasah within its structure as well. Now this institution is transformed to the Islamic Union [Bashkësia Islame].