Category: Uncategorized @mt

Children’s Theatre Festival Begins a New Chapter

Trikki Trakki children’s Theatre Festival’s 6th edition came to a close yesterday. Following the performances, Teatru Malta announced Rebecca Camilleri as the new Festival Director after the final performance of Trikki Trakki 2023. 

Rebecca Camilleri takes on the role from Antonella Axisa who has been Festival Director since the festival’s inception. After 6 years which allowed the festival to blossom into what it is today, the initiative which invites schools from all around Malta and Gozo to be mentored by some of Malta’s foremost theatre professionals ushers in a new era.

 “Trikki Trakki brings about a youthquake every year in each of our chosen schools. This needs a theatre fanatic like Antonella Axisa to happen. As she passes the torch, I thank her for her steadfast commitment and dedication to making Trikki Trakki such a loved festival by the kids. Now we welcome on board Rebecca Camilleri who is also madly in love with theatre.” – Sean Buhagiar, Teatru Malta’s Artistic Director 

Camilleri, who graduated from ArtsEd London with a Masters in Acting in 2018, is no stranger to Maltese audiences, having worked as an actress, theatre-maker and drama educator for several years. 

“I am thrilled to be taking on the Trikki Trakki Festival Director role for the coming years! I look forward to building upon the success of my predecessor, Antonella, to continue making theatre accessible to students around Malta and Gozo, and inspire a younger generation of theatrical talent.” – Rebecca Camilleri, Trikki Trakki Festival’s New Festival  Director

In her final comment as Festival Director, Axisa stated that “The work and incredible dedication that I gave to Trikki Trakki in the past 6 years were truly from the heart because I fully believe in the value of the festival. I hope that whoever interacted with the festival somehow – whether they are the children that took part of the creatives that worked with them – felt that they took something from the festival that they will be keeping with them.” 

As a new chapter for Trikki Trakki begins, Teatru Malta are excited to have Rebecca Camilleri at the helm of this theatre festival for children for the coming 3 years. This would not be possible without the collaboration present between Teatru Malta and the Ministry for Education which was created in 2022 to ensure that future generations are given the necessary opportunities to equip themselves in a career in the theatrical industry.

Ritratt ta’ Elisa von Brockdorff

Kazin 60+ will be a fun, creative and learning outcomes driven  project,  based on the theatre world. In a group setting, two theatre practitioners and actors will lead two groups towards achieving new theatrical experiences. Guest tutors will also be invited to some of the sessions with the intention of sharing their expertise in the Arts and Performance field.

This project will be fun – full of theatre games, improvisations, movement, singing, reading and learning of possible small scenes and texts.  This creative space will be shared and enjoyed with like-minded persons from different walks of life, allowing the opportunity to develop new found friendships. 

From one session to another the new group of actors will gain experience as well as confidence, which can help with being on stage, delivering a speech but also in one’s daily life.

As a bonus, research in well-being shows that remaining creative, learning new skills and taking on new challenges in the later years is an all round win-win situation, and has proven to be beneficial on a physical and psychological level. 

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 22nd February 2023, noon.

DOWNLOAD YOUR APPLICATION CALLS TODAY

We all know that the European lifestyle is based on an excessive use of energy. But how can we transition towards a more sustainable way of living? And what might need to be sacrificed for this work to succeed?

At the European Theatre Convention (ETC), the largest network of publicly funded theatres in Europe, we are very interested in these ‘big questions’. We believe theatre is one of the most exciting ways to stretch and challenge our thinking on topics such as diversity, digital innovation and sustainability. And with members in 30+ countries, we have the benefit of looking the issues that affect us all from a Cross-European perspective.

We were therefore very excited about Pipelines, an ETC international artistic collaboration project. 5 writers, from 5 countries (Malta, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and Albania) met online and at theatre festivals to produce new work about the drama of fossil fuels in their country. The texts are all extremely current, well-documented, joyful, funny, empathetic, at times furious, and at times resigned. It has been a particular pleasure to watch Simone Spiteri’s ideas grow in this period, from a thoughtful spark presented to our theatres at Spazju Kreattiv in 2021, into LUPU/NAGĦĠA, the important piece you have before you. Her ability to pull together global questions about oil, corruption, and the environment in the specific context of Malta is what makes this a truly European text.

It has always been our hope that Pipelines would circulate words instead of oil. That it would draw energy from cultural exchange, rather than fossil fuel. We’re delighted ETC Member Theatre Teatru Malta participated in the process, which we think is a great example of how European collaboration can foster visibility for – literally – burning issues. Congratulations to Simone, Dù Theatre, and our revered colleagues at Teatru Malta for bringing this to audiences in 2023!

We’ve won, we’ve won!  Among 150 applicants and finalists in this category, Young Europe IV was chosen as the winner of the European Art Explora – Académie des Beaux-Arts Award. In thios initiative which is in collaboration with the European Theatre Convention, we had Kurt Gabriel Meli and Alex Weenink as our representatives alongside their mentor Ruth Borg.

Young Europe IV has the aim to transform European Classrooms into theatres for the duration of a play whilst the type of stories that we tell about people from disadvantaged backgrounds in society are changed.

This project brought together 9 theatres from 7 countries to create plays alongside young theatre makers that transcend nation, cultural and language barriers. This edition focused on voices which are not of white heterosexual males in the European Theatre Convention.

Every participating theatre worked with emerging theatre writers who shared their stories in classes from the United Kingdom to Cyprus.

For more information about this project and its participants, visit here.

In the heat of the summer or whilst we’re dancing at a party, everyone in Malta has experienced the electricity being cut off, it has become part of our routine every year. But what they don’t tell us is that when the lights go out and the music stops, we find ourselves in a position where we can observe and reflect. 

LUPU/NAGĦĠA is a new play written and directed by Simone Spiteri commissioned by Teatru Malta in collaboration with Dù Theatre, which sheds light on some of the biggest topics currently concerning Maltese society.

Originally written for the Pipelines Project by the Europea Theatre Convention, LUPU/NAGĦĠA will be taking place at the Valletta Campus Theatre from the 27th January until the 5th February. This play features 12 actors, who each interpret the variety of characters present in Maltese communities to create a tragedy made for our times. The cast features Kristjana Casha, Joseph Paul Vella, Paul Portelli, Carlos Farrugia, Rachel Pecorella Genovese, Simone Zammit, Anthony Mizzi, Magdalena Van Kuilenburg, Franica Pulis, Robyn Vella, Steven Dalli and Jean Claude Aber. This production also features set design by Adrian Mamo and movement and light direction by Moritz Zavan Stoeckle.

Even though this play will be in Maltese, people who do not speak the language will also have the opportunity to experience this spectacle through the English subtitles which will be present throughout it. 

LUPU/ NAGĦĠA is a Teatru Malta for Pipelines, a European Theatre Convention Project in collaboration with Dù Theatre and supported by Arts Council Malta. This production will be taking place between the 27th February and 5th February, 2023. For more information and to purchase your tickets, visit www.teatrumalta.org

After the success of Sette VII (Sette) Teatru Malta and The New Victorians embark on yet another patriotic and exciting co-production with FCN this time of Ninu Cremona’s classic IL-FIDWA TAL-BDIEWA.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary from the death of this Gozitan literary giant, there will be an adaptation by Clare Azzopardi and The New Victorians of the epic that Cremona wrote in 1913. Now, more than a hundred years after this prolific writer gave life to the story of the Maltese farmers rebellion against tyranny, the piece will now take on a new life during this hands-on-immersive experience at the Salini, Ximenes Redoubt.

The show features actors Lee-N Abela, Jacob Piccinino, Alex Weenink, Matthias Camilleri, Sean Briffa, Gianluca Mifsud, Chantelle Micallef Grimaud, Laura Buhagiar, Kay Micallef, and Sara Gauci who will offer audiences a physically dynamic and exciting take on the hardships of our ancestors and the opportunity to juxtapose the past with the present to a background of electrifying live music, performed by The New Victorians Philippa Naudi and Bettina Muchmore, who are also directing the piece. This production is also a very environmentally conscious one, boasting a number of reused and repurposed set materials, costumes, and props, an ideology that forms part of Teatru Malta’s long-term vision.

In fact, the costumes designed and made by fashion activist Zoe Camilleri (Zowij Makes) are all environmentally friendly and made from repurposed and pre-owned clothing or fabrics. The same practice will also be applied to set designer Mattea Fenech’s set which will boast a number of natural materials and plants courtesy of Sherries Garden Centre.

Tickets for IL-FIDWA TAL-BDIEWA are sold out. For more information please visit www.teatrumalta.org.mt today. This show is a Teatru Malta co-production with Fondazzjoni Celebrations Nazzionali, and is supported by the Malta Arts Council and Sherries Estates, and will run for two weekends between the 18th and 27th of November 2022 at the Ximenes Readoubt, Salina.

After I saw MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN at the Manoel Theatre I was left with some questions which I then had a lot of answers to them.  Is it right or not that this comedy by Bertolt Brecht (a flowing translation by Loranne Vella) was made in the summer? 

Taking into consideration at which stage war has come to against Ukraine one feels that now is the time to warn people.  It seems like the news does not surprise us anymore.  Millions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of weapons and munition overshadow the 20 people who get killed everyday, half of whom are children.  The media delivers the details but not the message.

As Strinberg said, theatre is BIBLIA PAUPERUM, the poor man’s bible.  If used well, theatre can teach you how to think and analyse facts and how to learn from them.

Brecht explores this in Mother Courage. He’s got a vein in history that reveals how meat is a key substance in survival thinking. The hero soldier deceives the monks so to steal pigs from them. The price of meat gets more expensive or cheaper according to peace or war.  We can see the effect on those who eat expired meat from the black market. 

To manage this crazy market, Brecht created Mother Courage whose love for her children hides her harshness against all humans.  She befriends everyone for the sake of exploiting them for her own good. Josette Ciappara in the role of Mother Courage made justice to Brecht. Victor Debono as the Butcher deceived me because I could not recognise him.  He was believable as a butcher in the way he cut the skin from the big joint of meat and also with a harsh voice you would not expect from Victor, because he’s such a gentle person in real life. These two actors justify this production with their consistency from start to finish.

A question which kept on echoing was “Is it right or wrong that these social comedies are held at a theatre built from the bourgeois for the bourgeois?” Would it have been better if it was held at a boċċi pitch? Did the use of voice amplification add or subtract the interpretation’s quality?

For me what matters is that it was done. I thank whoever took the risk to produce a relevant and useful piece such as this. It is easily understandable because it is speaking to people of good will. After we see this production we have the key to better appreciate overlooked details in the news. 

We could say that very often Maltese theatre gives us something to hold onto long after we’ve left the theatre, and this has done just that. 

Enjoy it while you can, because as of this season all Teatru Malta patrons under the age of 25 are entitled to a €5 ticket! You have enough on your mind, whether it’s student expenses or future plans, we thought the last thing you’d need to worry about was your ticket to the theatre.

P.S Though we may have no control over whether those reading this advert are under the age of 25, we will have control over that at our doors, so make sure to present your identification at the door.

Please enjoy.

It was a surprising moment for me when two years ago I received a phone call from Teatru Malta asking me if I wanted to translate the play Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder into Maltese, specifically because this text was open right in front of me at that moment. I was reading it to use elements from Courage’s character, and aspects from Brecht’s epic theatre, for two of the main characters in Marta Marta (Ede Books, 2022), my last novel. Moreover, since I describe myself as a writer, an actor and a translator, I wasn’t sure which part of me was mostly saying “yes” to accepting the task of translating this play.

This question became clearer once the translation work began. During the first phase, it was the translator in me who took over. As I read the play in German, a play I was more familiar with in English, specifically Eric Bentley’s translation (Methuen, 1962), I tried to forget everything I knew about it and read as if it were the first time, while I immediately started to look for equivalent words and expressions in Maltese. During the second phase, after finishing the first translation draft, I revised the entire text, this time from a writer’s perspective. As a dramatic playscript also intended for publication, I wanted it to be read as a literary work. And I could have stopped here. However, from the very beginning, I was asking myself the following questions: how am I going to translate a play which, despite the fact that the characters’ present is set in the seventeenth century and their reality is the war which endured thirty years in Europe, will in fact be staged in Malta in 2022? Therefore, how am I going to make it sound valid for today’s audience without erasing the past it’s occurring in? In addition, how am I going to translate into Maltese a play which was written for a specific type of theatre – Brecht’s epic and dialectical theatre; a theatre created to address the political situation in the times of the Second World War; a theatre which requires from the spectators to neither identify nor empathise with the play’s characters but rather to engage in a rational understanding of the theatrical action happening on the stage and a deep discussion about it? 

During the last revision phase of the translation process I kept in mind the political commitment of Brecht’s theatre; I allowed my theatrical experience to direct me while I tried, as much as possible, to remain faithful to the original text and emphasise the literary aspect of the writing itself. I can safely say that I had never felt the three fields of my career – as writer, actor and translator – combining into one discipline as much as I have while translating Ma Kuraġġ u Wliedha.

 

 

The journey of the dance performance “Who is She?” began in 2019 with my theatre piece “Min Hi?” – a Teatru Malta production featuring actress Lee-N Abela. I was intrigued by the idea of transposing the physical action of the dramaturgy to choreographic movement. I worked with dancer Zoe Camilleri to generate the material for a 15-minute solo dance performance – recomposed to the same narrative of the theatrical work. The shift from dramaturgy to choreography was very interesting because although concept and narrative remained the same, it is a completely new piece. The script (in English translation) was distilled to short phrases and presented as an integral part of the pre-recorded soundtrack. The movement was generated anew through physical action techniques. This gave Zoe the freedom to create her own movement through improvisation … from which I would capture strong moments to compose the vocabulary for the performance. Working with Zoe was truly a pleasure. I look forward to work with Zoe again to develop this work even further. Thank you Dance Festival Malta for the opportunity … and thank you Teatru Malta for kick-starting the journey.

Photos by Matthew Maribelli