Ilirian Bezhani, playwright, actor, director, was born in Tirana. After finishing construction engineering, he did military service, and then finished high school in 1969. While serving as a soldier, he began writing stage plays. In 1975, he graduated from the High Institute of Arts and started working as an actor at the “Bylis” theater in Fier, where he performed for 7 years. In 1983, he moved to the People’s Theater, where he played roles of various kinds. The role with which he achieved significant success was that of Sandri in the comedy Pallati 176 by Adelina Balashi. After the 1990s, he distinguished himself as a comedy writer, creating several works such as “Zoti Godet me Puter” (God Kicks Me) (1995), “Mashtruesit” (Scammers) (1997), “Kush e ka fajin” (Who’s to Blame) (2000), “Pesha e Fajit” (The Weight of Guilt) (2003), “Porta e Pёrrallave” (The Gate of Fairy Tales) (2006), and others. Ilirian Bezhani addresses the problems and concerns of his comedies as acute social phenomena of the period of radical changes in post-communist Albanian society, otherwise known as “the transition period.” His tones are not only ironic and sarcastic but are also accompanied by a strong civic pathos against the alarming social and psychological distortions of people driven by greed for undeserved gains, deceit, hypocrisy, false illusions, political populism, and more. In addition to being an actor and playwright, he directed nearly all of his plays and comedies, taking special care to ensure the authenticity of scenes and comic situations, the most genuine interaction between actors, the creation of comic characters, as well as the dynamic and generally fast-paced stage action. (In the photo: Ilirian Bezhani)
Text: Josif Papagjoni
Photo: © https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4342555145758288&set=pcb.4342555475758255
Graphic processing: AHCF
