(“Night,Mother“ by Marsh Norman; director, Ema Andrea; productionMetropol Theatre – Tirane; performed at SkupiFestival – 2019)

Marsha Norman’s “Night, Mother”, the 1983 Pulitzer Prize-winning author, is a strong and powerful psychological drama that has attracted the attention of many actresses around the world for the extraordinary opportunity itoffers for acting creations. (Otherwise, the play is also set with us on the stage of the Bitola Theater).

We said that it is interesting in the first place for acting creations, but it is no less important / interesting for directing. In the case of the Metropol Theatre production in Tirana. Namely, the director Ema Andrea creates a particularly fluid play in which the dialogue and action have subtle transitions and transformations, but with evident growth / development, to the climax of the last symbolic and metaphorical scene, when “the light goes out”! Although, it is about the complex psychological states of the characters in a family that goes through many painful periods that leave a mark on the protagonists and a suffering that leads to fatal consequences. The play begins with the main point, when the daughter announces to her mother that this night she will kill herself! And so it will end. This simple replica then develops into a story that, through the dialogue of the mother and daughter, progressively twists and turns how they “rewind” their lives with a lot of traumatic points, as a movie tape.

Actresses IlireVinca and JonidaBecho also take realism in directing approach and this will be the main feature of her creations. Throughout the play, they go through different phases of interrelations, from banal conversation to many, seemingly unimportant things to exaltation, to crisis. In this sense, the rare moments when an actress, who interprets the Mother, seems to be completely unimportant, she tries to indicate this through her movements. No, it is a dialogue between two mature women about their deep suffering and the inability to find a way out that will ultimately result in a suicide decision. Otherwise, this is a good example of an acting game, in which they are both skilled in the psychological coloring of their characters, in capturing their emotional states. It all sounds powerful, and if you want it shaken in its calmness. So, on the show is a rare acting, studious approach to roleplaying. Their dialogue, as well as their silence (as in Chekhov’s comedies) do not confront the contemporary position of women in society, their preoccupations, sicknesses…

So, “Night, Mother”, by the director Ema Andrea, the actresses, Vinca and Becho, and of course the other collaborators (BojkenLjako’s extraordinary music and EnioShehi’s stage design, the stage and the costumes) is a successful and fluid psycho transcript by M. Norman.