Playwright Alfred Buttigieg has just announced the publication of his Collected Plays, a 180-page book featuring 'Ippermettili Nitlaq' ('Please Let Me Go'), 'Dwar Menopawsi, Minorenni u Muturi High-speed' ('On Minors, Midlife Crises and Fast Motorbikes'), and 'Mela Hawn Xi Manikomju?' ('What is this, a Madhouse?') - which have been translated into English for the first time - as well as his most famous work, 'Ir-Rewixxta tal-Qassisin' ('The Priests' Revolt'). Written between 1986 and 2016, all four plays have been staged at various prestigious venues, including Teatru Manoel and Spazju Kreattiv, and received acclaim from critics.
Three of these plays, ('Please Let Me Go', 'On Minors, Midlife Crises and Fast Motorbikes', and 'What is this, a Madhouse?') concern different life stages, including birth, menopause, old age and death. The fourth, 'The Priests' Revolt', is the playwright's earliest work included in this volume. At the time it was first staged in 1986, Marco Galea - now a senior lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Malta and an authority on political theatre - had written: 'Buttigieg has generously produced a work that can become an important turning point in Maltese contemporary theatre.'
"I've always toyed with the idea of having my plays translated, particularly as I believe they deal with universal subjects that any audience from any cultural background could connect with," says the playwright, who is currently working on his last play.
The translations, which were carried out by Irene Mangion (bar the one for 'The Priests' Revolt', which was completed by Marco Galea) were funded by the Malta Arts Fund, and stand testament to the quality and the versatility of Maltese theatre.
"I never write about the same subject twice. As an author and a playwright, I always challenge myself to do things differently and to grow creatively," Mr Buttigieg adds.
Two of the plays featured in the collection, 'Please Let Me Go' and 'On Minors, Midlife Crises and Fast Motorbikes', were listed in the ninth and 10th editions of the European Theatre Convention's 120 and 119 best contemporary European plays for the stage, respectively.
Alfred Buttigieg: The Collected Plays can be purchased from all major bookshops locally, as well as on Amazon Kindle internationally