The Malta Arts Festival – Summer 2006 will feature a production by the Maleth Theatre Company, entitled “An Evening with S. Beckett” to mark the birth centenary anniversary of Samuel Beckett.

This performance will take place on 31 July at the Old Opera House ruins in Valletta at 9pm.

The programme is divided into two parts. The first part includes the plays Act Without Words I and II. These two short plays have both humour and sorrow, and offer an atmosphere of reflection.

Act Without Words I will feature Roderick Vassallo, while Marvic Cordina and Graziella Galea Pirotta are the cast for Act Without Words II. This performance is directed by Patrick Vella (from CurtainRaiser), and will be accompanied by Abigail Brown on the piano.

The second part of the programme features a play entitled Endgame.

The leading roles are by Renato Dimech as Clov, Joe Pace as Hamm, Marvic Cordina as Nell and Narcy Calamatta as Nag. In Endgame, Beckett etches the human predicament of loneliness with that typical wicked Irish/British dry humour, telling youth not to bother to live on this earth as there is no hope.

This play is directed by Narcy Calamatta with Frank Tanti as executive producer, assisted by Josette Cassar, Alec Massa and Doriana Parnis. A Maltese version of this play will be presented on Tuesday 1 August at the same venue.

The Malta Arts Festival – Summer 2006, organised by the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, runs till 20 August. The Festival is sponsored by HSBC Bank Malta plc, The Valletta Local Council, Bank of Valletta plc. and The Westin Dragonara Resort.

Tickets are priced at Lm2 and Lm3 and are available from the Malta Arts Festival Information Stand, Freedom Square, Valletta.

Opening hours are on weekdays 8. 30am to 1pm and 5pm to 9. 30pm, and weekends from 10am to 1pm and 5pm to 9. 30pm. One may also call on the Malta Arts Festival hotline 9999-0145 or visit the website www. maltaculture. com