MARIO MICALLEF

Valletta-born Mario is 66 and currently lives in Birkirkara. His favourite actor is                Anthony Quinn, his favourite theatrical show is Filumena Marturano and his favourite film is Zorba the Greek.

Tell us a bit about your life and career.

I am married to Nathalie and have two children, Gordon and Alycia, and a grandson Nico. My theatrical career began at the age of 12. At that time I used to attend the Circolu Giuventu Cattolica in Valletta. It was there that I got involved in drama. If I remember correctly, my first part was a supporting role in a comedy in which I played an accident-prone waiter. My most memorable part was Dante in the one man show La Divina Commedia. Another part I enjoyed playing was that of King Lear. Ever since I became a pensioner I have been dedicating all my time to theatre and TV and I have never been busier, acting-wise.

What are some of the changes in the Maltese theatre scene that you have witnessed over the years?

I believe that Maltese theatre is going from strength to strength. There are various talented companies producing quality work and more importantly many valid acting schools for the young.  I remember a time when this was not so.

What’s been your funniest moment on stage to date?

There was once a kiss I had to give an actress on stage which I suddenly had to prolong while I tried to remember my next line. Another time during a monologue I was waiting for a telephone sound cue which never came. I had to invent  a couple of minutes worth of lines until the sound man graced me with the cue.

What’s your theatrical ambition - unless you have fulfilled it... in which case, what was it?

I have fullfilled most of my ambitions, but I hope I can one day share a stage with my grandson Nico who is in drama school and appears to be quite promising.

Tell us about your current production.

This play is about the life of Mikiel Anton Vassalli, who was born in Zebbug in 1764 to a peasant family. He lost his father at the age of two. In 1785, at the age of 21, he started studying oriental languages at Sapienza University of Rome. During his second exile in France, he married Catherine Formosa de Freamaux in 1813. He died in 1829 and his family was refused his burial by the Catholic Church. Vassalli was buried in the Msida Bastions Garden of Rest, a Protestant cemetery mainly used by the British. I was called on to do the part of Dun Mikiel Xerri.

Xerri was born in 1737, and died on 17 January 1799 aged 61. He was a Maltese patriot. He lived under the rule of both the Knights of St John and the French when they took over the Maltese islands. He was involved in an unsuccessful revolt to overthrow French rule under Napoleon Bonaparte for which he, together with other locals, was executed.

JOHN SUDA

John was born in 1951 in Marsa and lives in St Julian’s. His favourite actor is Tom Hanks, his favourite film is The Terminal and he loves watching Game of Thrones.

Why did you take up acting, and how has your stage career developed?

It’s hard to say but I suppose it was in my blood.  It is, indeed, what I love most in life.  I could say it has been my life and still is. My very first part was as a leader of shepherds called Haran, in a school play at Marsa when I was 10. It was the main part. Then, after a series of plays with a group of friends in my teenage years, I played Gus in Pinter’s Dumb Waiter at St Michael’s College of Education. I did other plays there but what I consider my real debut was as Pilate in Process lill-Gesu at the Manoel Theatre with Joe Friggieri directing (1971). My most memorable parts so far have been Faustus (Marlowe), Richard III (Shakespeare), Edipu (Sophocles), Menz (Ebejer), Is-Surmast (Trevor Zahra) and Il-Monsinjur in Mario Azzopardi’s Sulari fuq Strada Stretta.

Do you have any memorable or funny moments from your theatrical life so far that you can share with us?

Perhaps the most memorable moment for me was when we were doing Is-Sigra (a translation of The Fall and Redemption of Man) at the Manoel. The Director had opted for manual sound effects. Then, during the first performance, during the crucifixion scene, the sound of approaching thunder could be heard and I thought “Why did we not have this at least in the dress rehearsal?”  However, the sound effect was resulting very effective, getting ever near until it was rather loud and near.  Then, just as the actor doing Christ pronounced the words “All is finished” and ‘died’, an incredibly loud thunder clap deafened everything else and the whole theatre was lit up for a few moments! At that point we heard rain and realized it was real and not a recorded sound effect at all!  I’ll never forget that moment.

What are the main changes in the Maltese theatre world you have noticed over the years?

As far as I can say, it has been a pendulum from very valid theatre to cheap stuff and back. But, perhaps the most important change was the change in the censorship laws.  Also, now there are many drama schools.  This does not necessarily improve the quality of our actors, most of whom attend these schools in the hope of getting to be on TV. Too many schools also means that prospective students do not undergo strict selection methods

What’s your theatrical ambition?

During my acting career I have fulfilled quite a few ambitions, but I still have others, which I would rather keep to myself.

Tell us about this play and your part in it.

I am interpreting a historical character, Francesco Saverio Caruana. He is a strong character, who becomes Bishop of Malta some years after the events depicted in the play. He is a leader of the Maltese rebellion against the French. I do not know if what I say and do in this play is what the real Caruana said or did, but I believe that it should be well noted by the audience.  The play is not a history lesson.  It is a very good piece of theatre which sheds some light on our past, but also on our present.  It is directed by a person who has been nominated for Emmy Awards.  The cast is made up of some of the best actors ever to walk the boards.  I believe it is going to be a memorable production.

GODWIN SCERRI

Godwin is 69 and a Valletta native now living in Attard. He loves reading and his favourite music is classical.

What was your very first part?

I went on stage the first time at St Michael’s College of Education where I played Desdemona’s father in Othello in 1960. I only accepted the part because it was small – just a walk-on – I was terrified of appearing on stage. But it was a straight path from fear to an enduring love… When I later trained in drama in the UK we were told never to ask ourselves why we like to expose ourselves on stage or on film. Just do it, we were told.

What was the amusing situation in your theatrical life so far?

In a long career, you cannot avoid the occasional metaphorical fall through the stage trapdoor. When we were performing The Crucible at the University Theatre, one actor had a bad dry and nobody on stage knew quite how to pick it up.  Additionally we just couldn’t hear the cue that ‘book’ was trying to tell us from the wings. So I strode purposefully off stage, asked where we were and strode on again to give a line everybody recognised and we carried on. I thought I had done an excellent rescue job until the director told me that in fact I had exited through a French window…

What are the main changes you have noticed in the Maltese theatre scene over the years?

When I started, theatre in Malta consisted either of Italianate social comedies or dramas where the wardrobe was the main protagonist, and popular farces. Francis Ebejer changed all that and yanked Maltese theatre into the modern world when he introduced the Theatre of the Absurd. Now, in the age of instant communication, Malta’s theatre world is on a par with that of other countries, limited only by the fact that all actors work on an amateur basis while finance is often a constricting factor.

What’s your theatrical ambition?

Well, I have been lucky enough to interpret most of the great classical roles and that should suffice, I suppose.

Tell us about this play and how you got involved.

Mikiel Anton Vassalli is one of the great figures of our history. We are not producing a documentary here, but the play is based on what is known of the life of the man we now call the Father of the Maltese Language. Malta’s true history is only being written now (most of what we were told in the past is myth) and most people know very little of the great men this tiny rock has produced. The play is dramatic, with a highly creative approach to its subject. Above all else, it is director Mario Philip’s filmic approach to the theatre that gives his productions such verve, such freshness and such immediacy. Nobody should go away disappointed, for the production is a fast moving one, with dramatic scenes that should appeal to every theatregoer and also exhibits a passionate love for Malta and its people. I know Mario Philip quite well. He was a young lad roaming around with a camera when I was acting out major roles with the Atturi Group. Three years ago I took part in his hugely successful play Xbihat at the Manoel. Mario Philip also called me in to play Gamaliel in the film Saul which will hit the screens this month. We seem to have hit it off.

Cittadin Vassalli: Courting controversy

Stagun Teatru Malti has become known for courting controversy in Maltese drama. Their last production,  Jien Inhobb Inti Thobb broke records for Maltese plays at the Manoel. Records are bound to be broken again when the play is re-staged on 24 and 25 May (two months away and it is already half sold out).

However, there’s another treat in store before that. On April 11, 12 and 13, Stagun Teatru Malti will be presenting their most challenging production so far. Cittadin Vassalli is about the one of the most controversial characters in Maltese history: Mikiel Anton Vassalli.

Director Mario Philip Azzopardi is not pulling any punches. “The only time the Maltese fought against their own freedom was during the French occupation. Vassalli tried to rally his compatriots but instead, they allowed the powers of the church and the local nobility, who had been divested of their titles by Napoleon, to steer them away from rights and laws that freed them from centuries of servitude and political irrelevance,” he states.

As writer and historian Frans Sammut says in the introduction to his book Il-Holma Maltija, Vassalli was no saint, but his notability came to prominence in 1898, after the arrival of the French and the ousting of the medieval governance of the Order of St John, which he had fought against all his life, was thwarted by counter resistance and militancy led by the Catholic Church which stood to lose its entrenched power.

According to the production team, the play is not a history lesson. It is a ‘fantasy’ of political conundrums staged to represent Vassalli’s inner turmoil as he faced what he saw as ignorant political intransigence.  They promise that in many instances in the play there will be stark parallels drawn between the ‘then’ and ‘now’ with regards to the present Maltese political scene. At other times the play addresses current national issues, including what may be seen as an attack on our national anthem. 

The play will feature Sean Buhagiar in the lead role with John Suda as Dun Saverio Caruana, Mario Micallef as Dun MikielXerri, Godwin Scerri as Grandmaster De Rohan and Larissa Bonaci as Katerina Formosa de Fremaux. The dialogue, penned by Tyrone Grima, follows the modern Maltese idiom and all foreign characters speak to each other in Maltese. It is not a realistic representation of the time but an attempt to again bring to the fore the Maltese experience as it has never been presented before.

Cittadin Vassalli is on at Teatru Manoel the 11, 12 and 13 April at 8pm. Call 2124 62389 or visit www.teatrumanoel.com.mt