10-11.04.2026

The theatre performance “Cabaret 1999,” directed by Zana Hoxha, returned with two performances on April 10 and 11, 2026 at Gjilan City Theater, gathering around 80 audience members over the two evenings and presenting a powerful narrative of Kosovo’s post-war reality.

Based on Cabaret by Joe Masteroff, “Cabaret 1999” relocates the story from 1930s Berlin to Prishtina in 1999—a city emerging from war, exhausted and emptied in many homes, yet filled with an unrelenting desire to live. Within this setting, “Club Europa” becomes a temporary bubble of freedom and illusion, where lights and music construct a parallel reality, while outside remains the weight of memory and absence.

At the center of the story is Aida (Semira Latifi), a writer determined to document the missing and resist forgetting through art. She confronts a reality where everything is measured in value—even pain, truth, and artistic expression. The surrounding characters—MC (Kushtrim Qerimi), Soni (Edon Shileku), Ernesti (Gëzim Bucolli), Afërdita (Aurita Agushi), Dudija (Safete Mustafa Baftiu), Claudio (Gani Rrahmani), Agimi (Ali Demi), the Woman (Mejreme Berisha), and the Soldier (Blend Arifi)—become reflections of collective dilemmas surrounding freedom, memory, and survival.

“Cabaret 1999” unfolds as a profound reflection on freedom as a fragile and desperate celebration—a song that continues even when pain remains unspoken. It is a space where reality and performance intertwine, where life is staged as spectacle, yet truth breaks through between verses and melodies. In a society striving to rebuild itself after war, memory, hope, and the desire to live emerge as acts of resistance.

As a co-production between Gjilan City Theater and Artpolis, supported by Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport of Kosovo and Municipality of Gjilan, the production stands as a testament to theatre’s power as a space where tragedy and freedom coexist—leaving audiences not with easy answers, but with questions that continue to resonate.

Two additional performances will take place on April 23 and 24, 2026, at 20:00 in Gjilan.