Tell us about Fundazzjoni Avventura and its aims..
FA is Mario Philip Azzopardi’s brainchild. Although Mario Philip qualifies as a fully fledged emigrant, his love for his native country has never faltered. As a professional filmmaker living and working abroad, it is very surprising how he finds the time and energy to come up with ambitious projects designed to promote and enrich the Maltese cultural scene. One of his recent whims was the creation of Fundazzjoni Avventura, an organisation partly funded by himself, whose mission statement is to address head-on the sorry state of the dearth of play-scripts in Maltese. FA’s objective is to commission three scripts per annum to Maltese playwrights who are contracted to submit new plays in view of the production of an annual festival of Maltese theatre housed at the Manoel Theatre.
Who else collaborated in staging this play?
The Manoel Theatre has accepted to co-produce this exciting project with Mario Philip Azzopardi. The National Theatre has put its resources at my disposal and, together with Mario and his team, is actively involved in this venture to promote original and innovative Maltese theatre. I strongly feel that this should be a fundamental remit of our national theatre and Manoel Theatre’s direct involvement in making Mario Philip’s “dreaming” come to fruition is a step in the right direction.
Why is L-Indemonjati - u Maltin Ohra relevant at the moment?
L-Indemonjati – u Maltin Ohra is my contribution to this year’s Festival. This two-act piece is a blend of hilarious, outrageously funny theatre and sobering, thought-provoking vignettes, that form a solid scenario based on real-life political foibles which have been unfolding throughout last year on the local scene. The fact that the piece is inspired by local political intrigue and is lubricated by the inter-relationships between theatrical replicas of the flesh-and-blood protagonists of the shenanigans that have been taking place inside and outside our parliament, makes L-Indemonjati highly relevant to Maltese audiences. In the piece, I take the opportunity to ‘play games’ with my audiences and try to draw them into the action, not in ways that are the typical ploys of pantomime, but in more subtle ways that are more in the style of Brechtian alienation techniques. I also make use of characteristic traits that feature as icons of our traditional behavioural patterns – including noise pollution, religious rites, course language – elements that a Maltese audience can easily identify with, and therefore serve as inroads towards a strong sense of empathy with the theatrical happenings.
What's the play’s plot?
No story, really. Things just happen. Happenings revolve around this mighty rebel who has the balls to declare war against his own clan. If there is a story in this play, it has to be the yarn that spins around the sinister, ambivalent, but sometimes noble and patriotic improvisations of this charismatic rebel. His name is Dudaj. His mission is to save his country’s democracy. His patron saint is a mysterious red-haired beauty who hails from obscure medieval times, an image reminiscent of a Botticelli mystic demigoddess – Santa Grobjana dressed in white as if she’s a permanent Holy Communion candidate. Grobi provides moral and physical strength to Dudaj. In all the hero’s (or antihero’s) trials and tribulations, the Saint fires inspiration. Does Dudaj succeed in his social and political life mission? Or is he just another cartoon character, a buffoon, a charlatan? Is Dudaj bigger than his clan or is his clan a political monster – unbeatable, cannibalizing organism that has triumphed and will keep triumphing throughout the ages?
Sounds like a familiar tale. Who stars in it?
Featuring in L-Indemonjati – u Maltin Ohra are some of the best actors around. The cast is strong – very strong, not only in terms of experience but also in terms of professional commitment. All of them are fully aware that they form part of a troupe who are being instrumental in the staging of a theatre project that is working against the ‘norms’ of conventional theatre: this is theatre of commitment; the material is dynamite. It sparks off pure energy around every corner of the plotline and this energy explodes into textual bursts of vibrant language, or into choral numbers of song and dance. Positive energy all along: an attempt to entertain intelligently, sting with gusto and snarl with a smile. The cast is made up of Sean Buhagiar, Anthony Ellul, Marvic Cordina, Jane Marshall, Mario Micallef, Larissa Bonaci, Kris Spiteri, Clive Piscopo, Duncan Azzopardi and young Jamie Cardona.
How do you expect it to be received by theatregoers and politicians? Do you think Malta is ready for such 'observational' satire?
I honestly hope that theatregoers take L-Indemonjati with a pinch of salt. I am tongue-in-cheek, sometimes in-your-face too. I do not shy away from expletives and irreverences: all in good fun. All ‘in character’. There might be some diehards who could take exception to certain political innuendo. I am entitled to my own political take, after all: my worldview as a playwright cannot not inform my creative juices – love me or hate me. Ultimately, I’m out to entertain. Definitely not to offend. Strong elements of ridicule and grotesqueness typify my treatment of the characterisation of the dramatis personae who can be easily identified as their corresponding real-life public figures. I hope all concerned don’t read the sheer theatricality of my portrayals as an attempt to ridicule or insult the ‘real’ personae. I believe that the bunch of politicians who have held a nation on tenterhooks for more than a year shouldn’t take exception to some ‘naughty’ exposure of their antics in the form of a well-crafted piece of theatre. Or should they…?
L-Indemonjati – u Maltin Ohra is being staged by Fundazzjoni Avventura at Teatru Manoel under the banner L-Istagun tat-Teatru Malti. It is one of a news series of works in Maltese, about the Maltese and aimed at dismantling sanctimonious prejudices and pulling obstinate legs. The play will be staged on 22, 23 and 24 February. Booking is open on www.teatrumanoel.com
Albert Marshall in his own words...
“I studied at the University of Malta and later at Victoria University in Melbourne. I have a Drama Teacher’s Diploma from the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA). I’ve been doing theatre and television for more than 45 years now. I started way back in the mid-1960s during my University days in Malta. It was a daring beginning: heady days, when experimentation was the rule of the game. For me and my colleagues, theatre and literature were the ideal vehicles to fight the establishment, launch new forms of theatrical and literary expression… It wasn’t easy. But it paid off. I’ve moved around quite a bit: London, Melbourne, Sydney, Luxembourg… I have worked for ABC TV & Radio (Australia), Special Broadcasting Service TV & Radio (Australia), Grundy Productions (TV) (Australia), the Sydney Opera House, the Grant Street Theatre (Victoria College of the Arts, Melbourne), La Mamma Theatre (Melbourne), Dallas Brooks Hall (Melbourne), and the Cockpit Theatre (London).
For my sins, I was Chief Executive at PBS during the late 90s. I’m now firmly settled in Malta spending most of my time writing for the theatre and working on two literary projects that are due for publication by the end of the year. When I’m not rehearsing, I spend most of my time tutoring drama students for their Trinity and LAMDA examinations.
I cherish the time I spent writing, producing and directing musical theatre for the Maltese-Australian community of Melbourne – a great moment in my career: formative, innovative and fun… great fun. I also remember with great nostalgia my teaching and directing stint at the Victoria College of the Arts in Melbourne. Some of my students at VCA have today become established theatre and screen actors. Another highlight in my career in the theatre was when I was entrusted with the job of Principal of the Manoel Theatre Academy of Dramatic Art. It was highly satisfying cultivating new and promising talent and pave a way for new faces to start a career as stage and TV actors. I also include my work for Atturi Theatre Group during the ’70s as a highlight in my career. Atturi had introduced a repertoire model in Malta – a play a month staged at the Phoenicia Playhouse. Those were the days!”