Antoinette Soler left us on 18 May this year.

Marie Benoît asked a handful of her friends and theatre associates to share their reminiscences and impressions as a farewell tribute to Antoinette



LINO FARRUGIA



I remember Antoinette Soler with her radiant smile attending the Atturi Theatre Group meetings, and calmly suggesting various ideas for the choice of plays for the next season. She always wanted our group to present the best repertoire to our audiences.

She had interpreted some of the most demanding parts, in productions like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Agnes of God, The Loud Whisper and many others that have graced the Atturi stage.

But Antoinette was not only a first class actress, she was a kind friend and never said an unkind word about anybody, even when maybe somebody was not so kind to her. She was a marvellous guest at parties and could be very spontaneous in her repartee.

But sometimes she excelled herself.

It was some time after her son Jean Karl was married, and he was expecting a son, so Antoinette started preparing to become a nanna. Her dream was soon to come true. She talked and lived for the child to be. At an Atturi Productions board meeting one of the items on the Agenda was to discuss productions, make an analyses of marketing, finance and other subjects that had to be tackled with care and caution. Antoinette listened but did not contribute a word. All of a sudden she opened her handbag and out came a pair of knitting needles and wool and she started knitting. We stared at the knitting needles but did not know what to say to her. She just smiled at us and said: “Yes, I know, this meeting is very improvident but I need to think and the best way to think is to knit for our future baby boy.” I joked and said: “Madame de Farge used to do that during the beheadings in the French Revolution.” Antoinette replied: “Lino, this is no French Revolution, this is only an Atturi meeting, and I assure you nobody is going to be beheaded. What’s wrong with knitting while discussing theatre? Now I have an idea.” And from behind those knitting needles she came up with a very valid suggestion that deserved to be discussed

That was Antoinette. Simple, deep in her thoughts about our reason for existence and at the same time, kind. Antoinette was always there at the worst of times. And once she had joined her prayer group she exuded an inner peace that radiated from her and to those all around her.

There was a time when my wife and I were passing through some rough times and Antoinette used to ring every day to see how we were faring. She insisted that Dodo join her prayer group. Eventually Dodo gave in and joined. To this very day we are still grateful to dear Antoinette for taking so much care of us and putting out not only a helping hand but also often going out of her way to do so.

A dear friend has departed, but Antoinette will always remain in our heart and thoughts… And we are certain that we still have a friend who is ready to help somewhere.



PAUL XUEREB



Antoinette Soler was one of the outstanding actresses of the Maltese stage during the 60s, 70s and 80s. She was undoubtedly a very expressive and subtle actress of great roles in plays by, say, Ibsen and Chekhov and her range was considerable. To comedy she always brought a light touch and especially light comedy, the genre of which her husband Victor, who survives her, was such a master as director and, more rarely, actor.

I knew about the Solers in the late 50s when they were very active in Nosi Ghirlando’s Ribalta Company, but I got to know them personally in 1964 when both Antoinette and I were cast by Francis Ebejer to play in the premiere of his extraordinary work, Boulevard. This difficult play requires a director as perceptive as Ebejer himself. Antoinette took beautifully to Ebejer’as direction and played stylishly against Maurice Tanti Burlò and the rest of us. She and Victor were in the small group that set up Atturi Theatre Group in 1973 and Antoinette was in the cast of that remarkable company in its production of a Maltese version of Pirandello’s Sei Personaggi in Cerca d’Autore (directed by Lino Farrugia) in April that year. She went on to play very powerfully many parts in Atturi’s monthly productions at the Phoenicia Playhouse.

I remember with nostalgia her performance as Nina in Ethel Farrugia’s outstandingly elegant production of Chekhov’s The Seagull, in which I played Trigorin, and even more her Tina, mousy but clever and scheming, in Albert Marshall’s very successful production of The Aspern papers where again I was fortunate to play opposite her and the redoubtable Karmen Azzopardi. I must not forget to mention her vulnerable Thea in another production where we were both in the cast, Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler in which it was a great pleasure for us all to be directed by the great Pakistani actor Zia Mohyeddin.

Antoinette played beautifully in many a light comedy and farce such as Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite and Marc Camoletti’s Boeing boeing, but again my most vivid memory is of being in the same cast as her in Feydeau’s Hotel Coq d’Or, directed by her dear Victor, at the Manoel. Here and in Nigel Dennis’s enjoyable adaptation of a Carlo Goldoni comedy, A Credit to the Country, Antoinette showed her mastery of comic technique. I think my last performance alongside her was in Sadie Thompson, a play based on W. Somerset Maugham’s powerful story, Rain. As usual, her performance was nuanced, and moments of emotion were never thrown away.

The last time I spoke to Antoinette, on the phone, was a year or two ago when I told her of the death of an old theatrical friend of us both, James Falkland. The news saddened us, but not half as much as the news of her departure has saddened her many friends now. She was not only a very fine actress but also a very fine person. Her family’s loss is a great one, and my heart goes out to Victor especially, but there must be many who will think of her gentle smile and kind speech, now silent, with sorrow in their hearts.



ALBERT AND JANE MARSHALL



Jane and Albert got to know Antoinette during the heady days of the late 60s when she was already an established actress and they were new arrivals on the theatre scene. They believe that since those early times, Antoinette was inspirational for them. “We admired her professionalism, her theatricality, her passionate and complete dedication to her characters’ interpretation, her consistent high standards in performance,” Albert says. “She was one of the formidable quartet Karmen Azzopardi – Madeleine Attard Montalto – Ethel Farrugia – Antoinette Soler. At the time, for us, the crop of ambitious young theatre directors of the 60s working with one of the four divas was a quest for the Holy Grail. Antoinette, together with Karmen Azzopardi and Madeleine Attard Montalto, paved the way to establish an important link between her generation and ours.

“I had the honour of directing Antoinette in several pieces. I remember how malleable she was in the creative process of character building and interpretation. She was essentially a technical actress and once she established vocal placings, movements, stage business and costume handling, she locked in and applied her technical arsenal to polish, embellish and emote,” Albert recollects. “Undoubtedly, my most intimate theatrical experience of Antoinette was when I directed her in what may be considered among one of her finest performances ever – Maggie the Cat – in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In this production, Antoinette succeeded, in my opinion, to clinch one of the most prestigious rankings in the history of Maltese theatre performance. Mainly thanks to this production, Antoinette remains etched in my memory for the rest of my life.”

Jane Marshall’s memories of Antoinette are intimately linked with two particular productions: The Rope Dancers and the Mistress of Novices

Antoinette played Jane’s mother in Morton Wishengrad’s The Rope Dancers. Jane says: “She was brilliant in the portrayal of Margaret, an iron-willed woman who shows no affection towards her sickly daughter Lizzie. My scenes with Antoinette were absolutely chilling. Antoinette was great to work with – a veritable experience”.

The Mistress of Novices by John Kerr – a controversial play based on the life of Bernardette Soubirou, brings back to Jane dear and vivid memories of Antoinette. The play, renamed Is-Soru li m’Emmnitx in a Maltese adaptation by Albert Marshall, was directed by Lino Farrugia. Antoinette played the role of the Mother Superior and Jane played Soubirou. Her “theatrical encounter” with Antoinette in this piece Jane considers as one of the highlights of her career.

Jane comments: “Antoinette Soler lives on in my memory as one of the most brilliant and most talented actresses to ever tread the Maltese boards.”



NEXT WEEK: Joe and Therese Friggieri, Jon Rosser and Victor Soler