Dragut never forgave us for that fatal blow the mother of the Maltese girl, Susanna, gave to his temples. Throughout the years, his spirit never rested until he possessed the hands of the renowned author Trevor Zahra and forced him to rewrite history. Still, this was not enough for this Turkish leader; he hypnotised the members of the theatre group KAST, by repeatedly wailing high-pitched dervish chants, into researching anecdotes and characters that had connections with Valletta.

The author and actors toiled away into the late hours of several nights, with Dragut’s screeching spurring them on to write, discuss, devise and come up with original ideas on how to present not the typical history episodes of the capital city but a whimsical and satirical retort to repay the damaging blow to his reputation caused by the Maltese in the Great Siege. He wanted to make sure that the modern audience gets a closer and dirtier look at characters like La Valette, Laparelli, Lascaris and others who retain all the glory in the evidently fabricated history books. Of course, he could not leave out Susanna’s mother, that witch, who had struck him that fateful blow with the clay jar she was carrying on her way to the village well. That humiliating moment had been witnessed by that pretentious sketcher, Giuseppe Cali, who drew his obviously twisted amateurish rendition of Dragut in his moment of defeat at the hands of that windbag La Valette.

Dragut was not happy until he made KAST start rehearsing for a new theatre production that will appeal to anyone who wants to have a real and light-hearted look at what went on to make Valletta, the city that it is today. He also managed to obtain support from the Malta Arts Fund to put up this production. The members of KAST were so terrified of Dragut’s singing that they accepted to perform “Xaghret Mewwija: L-Istorja tal-Belt … milwija” on two weekends:  25, 26, 27 January and 1, 2, 3 February 2013 at St James Cavalier, of course in Valletta. Each performance will start at 7.30pm. KAST urge you not to risk Dragut’s mid-night wailings under your window but to quickly book your tickets either online at www.sjcav.org or by calling 2122 3200.