Zoltán Balázs’ production arrives from Kosovo to Hungary!
On 16th May the A joint production of the Bekim Fehmiu City Theatre from Prizren, Qendra Multimedia from Pristina, Maladype Theatre from Budapest, and the METTRIN Art Centre can be watched in METTRIN: the InHuman.
The contemporary work of art, which has been jointly created by internationally renowned Kosovar playwright Jeton Neziraj poet Shpëtim Selmani, was put on stage on 19th September 2025, in Prizren by Zoltán Balázs, who has earned reputation by his modern performances in the Western Balkan region. The international audience of the festival would watch the opening performance of the last year organised Kosovar-North-Macedonian theatrical showcase how it was performed according to the director’s exceptional directorial concepts in cooperation with Albanese actors and co-performers.
Two theatre institutions that play a significant role in the international theatre scene, the Qendra Multimedia and the Maladype Theatre – inspiring the actors of the Bekim Fehmiu City Theatre to discover new directions – by combining their professional experiences they have staged a joint artistic production, which would address pressing global issues. During the first part of the multiphase creative process, which was built on The Neziraj-Selmani co-writers’ collage-like, fragmentary text, the linguistic, visual and acoustic creative ideas were sentenced, the performers were chosen, then finally the cross-border work could begin. The creative team of the performance, which has been made in international co-operation, formed the multi-dimensional absurd text in the beginning of August 2025, in Bánk then in Pristina in Prizren, which “moving between imagination and reality, paints the inhuman and in-humanising face of power.” Franco Ungaro, Teatro
The urgency of creating Inhuman in the acute relevance of its subject: the uncovering of the harrowing conditions of war and armed conflict, and the individual and collective fates of those unable to escape isolation. Can art have an impact—and if so, how—on human brutality and mercilessness? What processes fuel the dehumanization of our world? How can our civilization resist barbarism and cultural degradation? In what ways can compassion triumph over inhumanity? These are the questions explored by this forthcoming production, which follows the performers’ unconventional dramaturgy and focuses on collective reflection, cross-linguistic communication, understanding, and human dignity.
Fragments of critics about the performance:
The performance is about those, who are forced to go to the never-ending battle field of armed conflicts and wars or who are unable to escape from there, about those, from whom the circumstances and their own survival instinct have extinguished unintentionally the human feelings. The circle is demonic, as fear results in hate, and hate does fear. Against barbarism only one thing can save, the home, but what happens when people have to accept, that their home, even their homeland is a battle field, and they are unable to escape isolation? How can they accept its reality? Can they stand against it, how long can human mental power last between horrors?
Zoltán Balázs’ performance with three actors, avoids illustration. The text is enriched with metaphorical layers of meaning and made playful by the elements of puppet-like choreographed movements, which are built of tiny motions, the square set (Petrit Bakalli), which seems to be static, that suddenly filled with secrets and surprises, it can be opened and closed, and the grotesques costumes (Vesa Kraja). While the music from baroque to morajzaj (Memli Kelmendi) gives not only atmosphere but widen universally in space and time.” Tímea Papp, Revizoronline
„In the performance, titled InHuman, in which the actors’ body are alive archives, wear on themselves the clues of war, exile and marginalisation, the question is not what is inhuman, but how can it become normal. The stage is minimalist, almost empty. The words have weight. In-humanism does not appear as an extraordinary phenomenon. It is deposited as tiny actions, administrative languages and seemingly unimportant processes are put on one another. The reference to the Kosovar conflict is obvious. But it is not exclusive. The performance is for Europe, to its policy, which treats bodies, borders and lives as they would be sacrificial. It is that kind of theatre, which condemns that value not from outside, but from inside, which it supposedly would like to save.” Gianni Forte, Doppiozero
Players:
Alban Krasniqi
Beslidhje Bytyçi
Hajat Toçilla
Creators:
Director: Zoltán Balázs
Dramaturg: Zoltán Balázs
Set designer: Petrit Bakalli
Costume designer: Vesa Kraja
Composer/Music director: Memli Kelmendi
Motion sculptor: Balázs Zoltán
Sound: Flamur Krasniqi
Lights: Yann Perreagux
Production managers: Balázs Katalin, Burim Mustafa
Producers: Huszár Sylvia, Aurela Kadriu
Running time: 80 minutes
Opening Night:
19 September 2025, Bekim Fehmiu City Theatre, Prizren, Kosovo
16 May 2026, METTRIN Art Center, Bánk
The contemporary work of art, which has been jointly created by internationally renowned Kosovar playwright Jeton Neziraj poet Shpëtim Selmani, was put on stage on 19th September 2025, in Prizren by Zoltán Balázs, who has earned reputation by his modern performances in the Western Balkan region. The international audience of the festival would watch the opening performance of the last year organised Kosovar-North-Macedonian theatrical showcase how it was performed according to the director’s exceptional directorial concepts in cooperation with Albanese actors and co-performers.
Two theatre institutions that play a significant role in the international theatre scene, the Qendra Multimedia and the Maladype Theatre – inspiring the actors of the Bekim Fehmiu City Theatre to discover new directions – by combining their professional experiences they have staged a joint artistic production, which would address pressing global issues. During the first part of the multiphase creative process, which was built on The Neziraj-Selmani co-writers’ collage-like, fragmentary text, the linguistic, visual and acoustic creative ideas were sentenced, the performers were chosen, then finally the cross-border work could begin. The creative team of the performance, which has been made in international co-operation, formed the multi-dimensional absurd text in the beginning of August 2025, in Bánk then in Pristina in Prizren, which “moving between imagination and reality, paints the inhuman and in-humanising face of power.” Franco Ungaro, Teatro
The urgency of creating Inhuman in the acute relevance of its subject: the uncovering of the harrowing conditions of war and armed conflict, and the individual and collective fates of those unable to escape isolation. Can art have an impact—and if so, how—on human brutality and mercilessness? What processes fuel the dehumanization of our world? How can our civilization resist barbarism and cultural degradation? In what ways can compassion triumph over inhumanity? These are the questions explored by this forthcoming production, which follows the performers’ unconventional dramaturgy and focuses on collective reflection, cross-linguistic communication, understanding, and human dignity.
Fragments of critics about the performance:
The performance is about those, who are forced to go to the never-ending battle field of armed conflicts and wars or who are unable to escape from there, about those, from whom the circumstances and their own survival instinct have extinguished unintentionally the human feelings. The circle is demonic, as fear results in hate, and hate does fear. Against barbarism only one thing can save, the home, but what happens when people have to accept, that their home, even their homeland is a battle field, and they are unable to escape isolation? How can they accept its reality? Can they stand against it, how long can human mental power last between horrors?
Zoltán Balázs’ performance with three actors, avoids illustration. The text is enriched with metaphorical layers of meaning and made playful by the elements of puppet-like choreographed movements, which are built of tiny motions, the square set (Petrit Bakalli), which seems to be static, that suddenly filled with secrets and surprises, it can be opened and closed, and the grotesques costumes (Vesa Kraja). While the music from baroque to morajzaj (Memli Kelmendi) gives not only atmosphere but widen universally in space and time.” Tímea Papp, Revizoronline
„In the performance, titled InHuman, in which the actors’ body are alive archives, wear on themselves the clues of war, exile and marginalisation, the question is not what is inhuman, but how can it become normal. The stage is minimalist, almost empty. The words have weight. In-humanism does not appear as an extraordinary phenomenon. It is deposited as tiny actions, administrative languages and seemingly unimportant processes are put on one another. The reference to the Kosovar conflict is obvious. But it is not exclusive. The performance is for Europe, to its policy, which treats bodies, borders and lives as they would be sacrificial. It is that kind of theatre, which condemns that value not from outside, but from inside, which it supposedly would like to save.” Gianni Forte, Doppiozero
Players:
Alban Krasniqi
Beslidhje Bytyçi
Hajat Toçilla
Creators:
Director: Zoltán Balázs
Dramaturg: Zoltán Balázs
Set designer: Petrit Bakalli
Costume designer: Vesa Kraja
Composer/Music director: Memli Kelmendi
Motion sculptor: Balázs Zoltán
Sound: Flamur Krasniqi
Lights: Yann Perreagux
Production managers: Balázs Katalin, Burim Mustafa
Producers: Huszár Sylvia, Aurela Kadriu
Running time: 80 minutes
Opening Night:
19 September 2025, Bekim Fehmiu City Theatre, Prizren, Kosovo
16 May 2026, METTRIN Art Center, Bánk