MESSAGES COMING FROM MYTHS AND CONTEMPORARY ALBANIAN THEATRE

Abstract

Albanian dramaturgy and theatre have addressed myths from time to time, conceptualizing them on two levels: a) as true reality, b) as artistic reality. The universality of ideas, the metaphor of juxtaposing life with death, the fantastic with the real, man with his shadow, make dramas and theatre performances as interesting and provocative as they are rich in messages, psychological depth, symbolism, associations with today's time and man. Critical analysis of their meaning in theatre and the demystifying way of looking at things is the method of study that I have followed in this article, while the aesthetic evaluation of the phenomenon to offer a more in-depth explanation in some concrete performances constitutes its main goal. The technique of transformations and disfigurements with mutations of characters, environments, times, coexistence between the living and the dead, between objects, animals and people, between virtual and real images, all of these have increased the affective states of the spectators, the hypnotic and magical power of the theater. Mythological matter transforms esoteric elements into important textual-theatrical units. After 1990, with the fall of communism, this trend became visible. But it has not infrequently gone to excess, which has led to the deformation of the meanings of mythological narratives. However, it must be stated that the use of mythical matter, its decryption, the creation of associations with man and today's life remains from the modern theatrical practices of the Albanian theater. The use of such techniques proves the usefulness of its re-semanticization in accordance with the messages that the theater conveys.