Justin Spiteri, an autistic man with a passion for drama, has recently taken part in an international acting event held in Turkey.
The project, which was called the 'Creative Way', saw Turkey host a group of performers from Malta and Spain. A short play was performed, aimed at showing the participants from each country the cultures of the others.
One of the subjects chosen by the Maltese was immigration, as Turkey, Spain and Malta have immigration problems in common. The show was produced through a series of sketches and, as well as immigration, the Maltese performers presented the romantic side of Malta.
The Maltese contribution was organised by a performance group of disabled people called "Opening Doors".
"Information regarding the event was sent to our group leader by the Spaniards and Turks," said Justin. "We then began discussions amongst ourselves to find something in common between the three countries and the idea to tackle immigration came from there".
"For my part, I spoke about Maltese soldiers and the part they play in the saving of migrants' lives".
Three Maltese actors took part, in addition to a director and an Assistant. All three actors have some form of disability.
"Teamwork was the key to the success of our performance," Justin said. "The main challenge we found was the script prior to the play, due to the different languages spoken by the audience, as we all had some lines in both Turkish and Spanish. We spent four days in Turkey".
"I played a seaman," he said. "The point we tried to make in our play was that there is no diversity in Malta, and we need to focus on helping immigrants, not breaking them apart. Everyone is the same, everyone has their problems and everyone can contribute to society".
Apart from immigration, Maltese culture was also depicted, mentioning food, Maltese romance, etc. "We are trying to bring the Spanish troop over to Malta to perform in a festival we are organising", said Julian. The local performance group, Opening Doors, will be taking part. "We are still deciding what this festival will be called but I am quite excited to see what we can come up with. My dream is to take audience participation to the next level".
Justin has not been involved in showbiz for very long, but he has already made headway in the business. "When acting, your sense of the character, who he is, what he does, is extremely important". On the subject of making the transition from stage to the small screen, Justin finds television acting harder than stage acting. "On stage, you can see and hear the audience reaction, but when you're working on camera, you can't". As well as Opening Doors, Justin is also part of the group called Free Spirit.
On the subject of directors in Malta, he said there are a multitude of personalities. "There are those who try to be friendly with you and those who try to push you. There is no dislike between the different groups, in fact everyone supports each other. Internally, within the drama groups, we work as a team - we don't try to hurt each other".
Justin has played several small roles in local TV series. His favourite was when he played a CID officer who was strangled by the very person he was trying to catch.
"Creativity is extremely important for people like me. Acting and sport were crucial elements in my social growth. My favourite parts are in action scenes or comedy," he said. "My favourite star has to be Dick Van Dyke, the star of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."
Apart from drama, Justin is also an active sportsman, having taken part in the Special Olympics. He has won a total of three gold medals in international sporting events, two in swimming and one in bocce (singles).