MADC will be returning to San Anton Gardens with its annual Shakespeare play between 29 June and 8 July - this year with an innovative production of The Tempest, directed by Stephen Oliver.
With the very first Shakespeare production dating back to 1938, the MADC has kept up its tradition of performing outdoors, in the beauty of the gardens' surroundings.
This year's play has a special meaning for the club's chairman, Martin Azzopardi, who acted as King Alonso on the same stage 16 years ago.
"The Tempest was my first Shakespeare play when I came back to Malta from London, so it holds a very special place in my heart. It also brings back memories of my very first Shakespeare performance at San Anton in 1972," says Azzopardi, who would love to be back on stage but whose role within the club does not leave him with much time on his hands.
But the theatre world is still a big part of his life. "I eat, breathe and sleep MADC," he chuckles.
As a child, Azzopardi visited the theatre often. Anne Frank's Diaries was one of the first plays he saw. "I immediately wanted to be on stage," he reminisces. Soon after that, he was taking part in school plays and musicals. He then joined MADC and has never looked back.
Azzopardi says the theatre scene in Malta has changed dramatically over the years, with a number of independent drama companies popping up and putting up their own shows.
"Most producers have, at one point or another, all been associated with MADC - either as directors or as actors. I see the club as a springboard for talent. However, while this change has created a healthy competition between the drama companies, we have not yet seen theatre numbers increase at the same rate."
Azzopardi's favourite Shakespeare play is The Taming of the Shrew, "as this was my first ever theatre experience with MADC". He has also taken part in this play three times over the years and "each time I am given an older role", he jokes.
His favourite Shakespeare role was Feste in Twelfth Night. "Again, this was a challenging role for me, with the added pressure of having to sing," Azzopardi says. A scene he loves best is from A Midsummer Night's Dream, performed during Shakespeare Revisited, an event that formed part of MADC's centenary celebrations.
"That year, the annual open-air Shakespeare took the form of a tribute to this long-standing tradition of the club, where scenes from an array of all-time favourites were presented: Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as a short sonnet recital," the chairman recalls.
This year's production of The Tempest is innovative because the director turns the main protagonist, Prospero, into a woman. "It is not the first time that male characters in Shakespeare are changed to female actors," Azzopardi explains. "Women have been punished for being powerful for many centuries. I think women can be pretty brutal too, particularly in terms of revenge. Remember, 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'."
He says academics often believe that the character of Prospero reflects how Shakespeare was feeling at the time he wrote the play - the desire to finish his work and return home to Stratford Upon Avon to live out his retirement. "The Tempest is a compact story, occurring only over a limited time and with only 13 characters. What makes the play fascinating are the themes of forgiveness, colonialism and justice, still relevant today. Interestingly, The Tempest is only one of two plays written by Shakespeare that are original stories."
Performances will be held from June 29 to July 8 at 8.30pm at San Anton Gardens in Attard. Tickets are available from www.madc.com.mt