The pursuit of meaning is a relentless trend these days. Look around you. You will find a slew of quotes about the significance of everything on Instagram, thousands of videos on Ted, and countless self-help books online. But what most of us fail to see is that it is through meaninglessness - through the absurd - that we start to see things.
Samuel Beckett knew this. Franz Kafka did too and so does director Ian Moore. With his adaptation of Nobel-Prize winning playwright, Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Moore wants to give us a dose of the absurd.
Fo's play, first premiered in the 1970s, was inspired by the life of a railway worker from Milan who was arrested by the police in 1969, accused of terrorism. The man would later "fall" to his death out of the fourth floor window of the police station.
"For many years we have seen political theatre as glum, dower, depressing and unimaginative," Moore explains. "But the work of Dario Fo - Mistero Buffo, Can't Pay Won't Pay - as well as Accidental Death Of An Anarchist, bucks that trend. It is a heady blend of vaudeville and politics that is more Marx Brothers than Marx, Karl."
It was "a brave choice for Masquerade" to take on this play "in the current climate in Malta" Moore adds. "Parallels to modern-day Malta are obvious but we are staying true to the original and will let the audience take from it what they wish. We are simply having fun telling this particular story, however tragic that tale is."
One thing Moore is doing differently is having an all-female cast take on the male roles. In this play, "the grotesque and surreal elements of the original are almost all masculine - the only voice of reason may be a female voice but the real questions, the real messages, all come from male voices", he says.
"Without wishing to justify why we have an all-female cast," Moore continues, "I felt it would be an exciting exploration of the female perspective, it would add to the absurd and it would be damned funny."
And funny is exactly what this play is. "I don't think I have laughed so much in a rehearsal room for many, many years," Moore confesses. "Most of the laughter comes courtesy of the protagonist - the certified lunatic in this play who takes on various personas to expose the corrupt policemen and the fact that they are trying to cover up the murder of the railway worker."
But it's not just Moore who is loving the fun in the rehearsal room. "The cast is delighting in Fo's hair's-breadth combination of political exposé and pungent vaudeville," he shares about his leading ladies.
"It is intriguing to watch; to see how a female performer perceives what it is to be a man," he explains. "I am regularly asked how I would sit, or walk, or do everyday things in a masculine manner so they can hone their performances. The tone doesn't really change and the pace is breakneck with wonderful comedic performances from all involved."
These wonderful comedic performances are what we can expect come November. "I hope our audiences will find the piece poignant and thought-provoking as well as funny," Moore adds. "And I would expect they will be entertained as well as challenged in what they think."
Masquerade's production of 'Accidental Death of an Anarchist' by Dario Fo will be staged at Blue Box - M Space, Oscar Zammit Street, Msida, on 7, 8, 9, 14, 15 and 16 November, with all performances starting at 8pm. Tickets and more information are available online at www.masquerademalta.com