KOSOVO 1999

M I N U T E S T O WA R : Picnic in Hell
Here in Macedonia
people don’t wear
helmets on motorcycles;
they don’t use seatbelts
when they drive, and the
prices change for a cup
of coffee every day.
It was a play called Audienca by the current Czech
Prime Minister, Vaclav Havel about a brewery where
the officer of the brewery and one of his workmates
proceed to get drunk.
film the theatre performance.
It was a play called Audienca by the current
Czech Prime Minister, Vaclav Havel about a brewery
where the officer of the brewery and one of his
workmates proceed to get drunk.
Although I could not understand it I told
Valbona’s husband that his hand movements were so
fluent and fluid that they themselves articulated the
nature of the story to me.
It reminds me of the Cherry Orchard which I
saw in Russia with Alicia, a beautiful young Russian
friend some four years ago. Again it was in Russian. I
sat through it blind to its contents, piecing together
snippets. There were milk crates everywhere. It was
a good play but it was not a great play, but under the
circumstances it was exciting to see people in exile
doing this performance.
The actress Vanessa Redgrave was present at the
performance in the audience and she spoke about
the Red Lantern Club, a theatrical group composed
of a small group of immigrant Russian Jews who
were forced to flee as refugees from Vienna to
London at the beginning if the second world war.
They organised Sunday evening performances at
her father Sir Robert Redgrave to a select group of
people in an attempt to keep their creative candles
or fires burning. Vanessa Redgrave likened the
Dodogne theatre to this club. She was very effusive
and looked a little older, but the years had been kind
to her and she younger than what I would imagine
her age to be.
At the end of the talk she was given a standing
ovation with applause and again I felt that were they
giving her the ovation for what she said? Or for what
she represented? I can recommend her spirit and
her humanity and gesture of intent to these people.
Firouz was angry at me for the umpteenth time,
because I was too shy to speak to Vanessa Redgrave
for the sake of the film. That was the long and the
short of it.
The situation was one whereby I did not feel
it necessary and perhaps because of the state of
fatigue that day. The fact that we had very little
money and we could not find a hotel to check into
was instrumental in our anxiety.
Sometimes I think Firouz fails to realise that
his anger precipitates situations which are in
direct response of that anger. It is almost as if he is
unhappy about a situation and then the unhappiness
instigates further chaos. He is his own worst enemy
and that his own anger has been a pivotal force.
Saturday, 15th May, 1999, Skopje,
Macedonia, The Ambassador Hotel
We are in Macedonia and there is music in the
background singing and it is another day. I am
explaining to Firouz that the service industry here
serve us here with unhappiness and whether it is
genuine or they are taught to be so it is unfortunate.
They are taught here not to give.