“Constant strange situations”

He used his office in the ministry of culture as a writing studio: Albanian author Stefan Çapaliku speaks about his work as a playwright.

One who can explain "exterophily": Albanian playwright Stefan Çapaliku. Foto: Pesl

It was a matter of survival. You can’t make a living from being an author in Albania. Everyone in our artistic community is aware of the necessity of taking on a job in public service to make ends meet. To be honest, I mostly used my office for writing. The government did not inhibit my work. Otherwise I would have quit immediately.

Are actors able to make a living from their work?

Not freelance actors. They often go abroad and end up working in ordinary professions. They can never seem to get by as actors because there is so much competition, despite the fact that we have a good drama school. The national theatre and a few city theatres are the only ones with permanent ensembles, but I feel like they are detrimental to Albanian theatre as a whole. It doesn’t make sense for people to be paid to be on call. Young performers have no access to this self-contained system. I would rather see the market opened, the system reformed. If theatres and ensembles were separated, it would create a whole new reality. I frequently advocate this in articles and interviews.

What advantages do Albanian artists have?

Albania has been in a state of transition since the 1990s. So much is happening all at once. For an artist, such as an author, this can be very interesting. Anything is possible. Those who observe reality discover enough material for a great many dramas. Since 1992, I have spent a lot of time in western countries and have noticed that societal life is not as intense as it is in Albania. In our country, we constantly encounter strange situations, exactly the kinds of things that feed authors’ imaginations.

Can you believe that some Germans complain that authors receive too much financial support?

There are only about 10 to 15 playwrights where I come from. And these few people do not produce very much. So we don’t have to deal with issues like this. However, I wouldn’t mind having more competition, especially from younger people. But that is not in my power.

Is theatre popular in Albania?

Tirana has 30,000 theatregoers per year. That doesn’t sound like much for a city with 600,000 residents, but when you consider the fact that we only have one national theatre, it is actually a lot. It is always full. And more and more people will be drawn to it in the future.

Are you famous in Albania?

I am well-known in Tirana and a few other big cities. But ever since the 1990s there has been a growing sense of exterophilia: This country, which was practically cut off from everything for fifty years, has become curious about – if not downright hungry for – anything that comes from the outside. Ninety percent of our plays are translations, especially of modern texts from the West: England, France. Little from the East.

So you actually don’t have much interaction with other eastern countries, the ones that we are so curious about here?

Albanian producers and directors are fixated on the West. That is really too bad. We need to find ways to rebuild the channels of communication with other eastern countries that got lost in the nineties.

Do you feel pressured when you write?

My entire life, I have always tried to live freely. And I am paying for it. There is no going back now.

Have you seen anything at the festival?

Just a German production: “The Man Who Ate the World.” It had a little too much dialogue for my taste.