#BEZZJONI: Michael Tabone

Photo: Elisa von Brockdorff

Michael’s house was our very first visit and he was also our very first balcony photo! Right in the heart of a Valletta you would barely recognize, no people, no chatter, no rush there was Michael waving at us from his balcony window. We were greeted and welcomed quite quickly. Naturally a conversation from the balcony proved trickier than expected but we made it work, we were dealing with a professional who makes it his priority to project his voice to his audience for a living here are his thoughts about life during lockdown, as part of our  weekly series #BEZZJONI, a series of door to door encounters with Maltese theatre icons   

Michael Tabone was born in Xagħra, Gozo on 27 November 1953. He has been active as an actor for over thirty years and acting plays with theater companies in Malta.

“Currently part of my routine is to cook every day and spend time reading a book on the history of Malta. Sometimes I listen to the news to keep up to date. Sometimes some friends call me and we talk. In the evenings I often watch footage of National and Globe Theaters dramas being shown on YouTube, or watch a movie. Last week I cleaned up a room and found some boxes with theatre programmes and scripts of plays I’ve been in over the years. I am now arranging them one after the other according to date, from the first play I did for my MTADA course in 1979 to the most recent one at the Manoel Theater last November.

“For the last forty years I have been fortunate to play characters in plays by well-known writers including Euripides, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Molière, Goldoni, Chekov, Brecht and Pinter. I have also worked in plays by some of the best authors of Maltese theater including Francis Ebejer, Oreste Calleja, Ġuzè Chetcuti, Joe Friggieri, Vince Vella and Trevor Zahra. I hope that this pandemic will go quickly so that theatrical activities can continue with more artistic force.”