Varied events programme at St James Cavalier

The chairman of the foundation which runs St James Cavalier yesterday urged tour operators to take more tourists to visit the centre, which he described as one of Malta's cultural gems.

"St James Cavalier should be the flagship of tourism and tour operators should promote it. I feel they lack the sensitivity that such a contribution to tourism could make," Chris Grech said.

He was speaking at a news conference with the centre's general manager, Chris Gatt, to announce a jam-packed programme for the coming months.

Mr Gatt said that since its inception two years ago, the 110-seat theatre-in-the-round of St James Cavalier has registered an average audience of 80 per cent of capacity.

Mr Gatt said the centre had had an impact on the country's cultural ethos and attendances showed that it attracted a wide-ranging audience.

Music events at the centre were also becoming more popular and average audiences in the past two years stood at about 60 to 70 per cent.

"From what we can see, those who have come to the centre and tried it out have come back," he said.

Over 211,000 people visited the centre in the two years, just over 33,000 of them tourists.

The programme of events kicks off on Thursday with the Australian Film Festival which will run at the centre until Monday, with four films showing every day.

Patrons will have the opportunity to sample a few of Australia's fine wines, as well as the chance to take part in an Emirates-sponsored lottery for a trip to Australia.

On Friday, the centre will open the photographic exhibition 'Steel 2002: The moulding of a small nation', by Peter Paul Barbara.

Then, on September 18, there will be an exhibition of works by children who attended the art animation classes at the centre in summer.

Meanwhile, followers of the Maltese group Etnika should jot down September 19 to 22 in their diary for memorable evenings when Etnika team up with a folklore group from Wales, called Rag Foundation.

Two of the four concerts will be held at Ghajn Tuffieha to raise money in aid of the afforestation there of the Gaia Foundation.

The play Open Couple, staged last June by Actinghouse Productions, will be presented again between September 20-22 due to popular demand.

Then between September 27-29 the centre will be holding a free film festival in an attempt to entice film buffs who have not yet visited its cinemas.

The festival will include films such as Moulin Rouge, Giuseppe Tornatore's Malèna and Amelie.

An interesting production in the centre's theatrical calendar is the show Vagina Monologues by Eva Ensler, which received rave reviews at London's West End.

A celebrated monologue about womanhood, the show is being staged by FM Productions under the direction of Mr Gatt.

Delving into the centre's new initiatives, Mr Gatt said there were plans to organise Saturday Children's Club and Family Sundays where the whole family could take part in painting and clay modelling or watch films, among other activities.

The foundation was also hoping to launch the scriptwriters' workshop next month where production companies, actors and directors were invited to come forward to generate a forum of dialogue and eventually stage the works produced.

Mr Gatt said the centre's restaurant and cafeteria was under new management and had been renamed Inspirations. The coffee shop will shortly be opening its pasta house with a salad bar and grill.

The centre's gift shop was also being run by new management and was open all day to cater for Maltese and tourists alike.

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