From Tuesday, 8 June a new theatre piece co-produced by the rubberbodies collective by Jimmy Grima and Spazju Kreattiv will take the stage of Spazju Kreattiv's theatre in Valletta. With tickets available both in-theatre and online on demand, this new project dives into the theme of explosions - military, ritualistic, artistic, criminal - in the Maltese Islands.
Grima remembers looking out from his grandmother's roof watching the fireworks of the local festa when he was little. This memory, one that is personal to Jimmy, mirrors something contained in the roots of the collective Maltese past. The recollection is vivid with sights - bright hues dancing through the night sky - and sounds - the crackling explosions that work together to create one of the staples of the Maltese village feast.
Kaxxa Infernali: Explosions holds memory at its core, using Malta's southernmost point, Filfla, as a "memory-site" where the many facets of Malta's past are reflected and refracted. Other than drawing on Grima's own experience as an individual coming from a long line of firework-makers from Qrendi, this piece looks into explosions as they manifest within the collective experience of Maltese society at large.
Jimmy Grima performing Kaxxa Infernali: Explosions during a rehearsal at Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, Malta, May 2021. Photos Elisa von Brockdorff
Kaxxa Infernali approaches explosions from four different directions: the militaristic, the ritualistic, the artistic and the criminal. In this case, these aspects of explosions are used as vehicles for an "epistemological study" (as Jimmy calls it); an exploration into nature through primarily oral knowledge which attempts to circumscribe a definition, however tentative, of "Malteseness".
Explosiveness is tied with the common stereotype of the Maltese character as being "fiery", loud and imposing. This is often the association, but speaking to Jimmy remotely from his studio in Amsterdam before he makes his way back to Malta for the production, he emphasises upon the significant role that silence has played in the creation of Kaxxa Infernali. In doing so, he outlines the contrast between the piercing sound of bombs and the silent process that is involved in their creation, an oxymoron which Jimmy identifies as a parallel to what makes the Maltese "Maltese". This insight was brought about through the many consultations that the rubberbodies collective carried out in the past year with St Philip's Fireworks Factory.
With a mix of interviews, on-site visits and archival research, the approach taken to create Kaxxa Infernali can also be termed as anthropological. Jimmy mentions research to Malta's National Archives. Most significantly, he mentions the team's discovery that from the 1970s up until fairly recently, around hundreds of bomb incidents were recorded in the Maltese Islands. The number itself, although significant, isn't what particularly intrigued Grima and the rubberbodies collective; it's the fact that in nearly every account, these bombs were built by men.
Think about it - explosive phenomena and expressions are culturally tied to men. Historically, the majority of wars are fought by men, the bombs which targeted Filfla between the 60s and 70s were dropped by men, firework factories and firework-making spaces are overwhelmingly male and the car bombs of the past decade, which have dominated the national news, were all constructed and planted by men. Kaxxa Infernali does not only explore Malta's cultural identity, it also looks into what it means to be a man in Malta. This does not mean that this piece solely speaks to Maltese men.
First and foremost, the work explores the identity-constructing facets of an island nation, a community detached - peripheral - but simultaneously susceptible to the whims of larger foreign powers, a narrative which recurs within the histories of various cultural groups throughout the world. Yes, Kaxxa Infernali is written in Maltese and yes, it does specifically tackle the unwritten histories of Maltese people and Maltese men, but this is a project which can be experienced by anyone, regardless of the level of contact that one person or another has with the Maltese community. The wide spectrum of subjects that it tackles is quasi-universal, and due to this fact, anyone approaching this work, in some way or another, can create a connection through the experience.
Kaxxa Infernali: Explosions is a co-production by Spazju Kreattiv and the rubberbodies collective, supported by the German-Maltese Circle and the Goethe Institute. This play is written by Jimmy Grima and the rubberbodies collective.
Dates:
Tuesday, 8 to Friday, 11 June at 8 pm; Saturday, 12 June at 6 & 9pm; Sunday, 13 June at 5 & 8pm