On drama in Maltese

L-Akkademja tal-Malti has taken note of another misleading entry (Showtime, October 3) related to Maltese Theatre. Regrettably, the entertainment supplement of The Times persists in its biased opinions when it comes to stage fare in the vernacular.

Showtime assumes it has discovered "what theatregoers in Malta want to see", even though the results of its pseudo-survey (L-Akkademja is notified that the coordinator is a person of foreign origin now settled in Malta) contradicts recent reports carried in The Times itself.

The Showtime survey is unprofessional and extremely subjective, and was designed, apparently, to arrive at the foregone conclusion that theatregoers in Malta do not want to watch plays in Maltese.

The survey cannot be given any credibility since it was conducted by using the mailing lists of three institutions that are heavily biased against Maltese dramatic forms.

Two of the companies whose mailing lists were employed for the "survey" have never produced a single performance in Maltese and their public is strictly attached to English language productions. It is hardly surprising therefore that "less than two per cent of people polled preferred to watch plays in Maltese".

What is very dangerous and insulting to the very identity of national culture is that the Showtime "survey" is carried and announced so patronisingly in a paper with a wide circulation that reaches beyond the Maltese shores.

If Showtime wanted to draw an objective result, it should have included in its poll those people who flock to watch Maltese drama at the Catholic Institute, in Floriana, the Salesian Theatre, in Sliema, and the Manoel Theatre whenever plays in the vernacular are given a chance.

It should have polled the crowds of young people who are watching plays in Maltese on the repertory of emerging companies like The Curtain Raisers, Stage Breeze or Bronk.Productions. Such drama groups are relying on Maltese original forms and they should have enough state assistance to present work of a more ambitious nature than they are at present in a position to present.

A report carried in The Times of September 18, 2003 gives a completely different picture to that drawn out in Showtime's survey.

Production data issued by the Manoel Theatre itself showed that drama in Maltese, whether in translation or in original form, drew heavy crowds and never fell below the 66 per cent mark, far above the capacity of 42 per cent registered by one company whose mailing list served the Showtime "survey".

L-Akkademja tal-Malti is seriously concerned that Maltese drama is being undermined in such fashion at every opportunity. It is simply not true that the Maltese public shuns drama in the vernacular. It is a certain segment that has the support of biased media agents that disregards and undermines drama in Maltese in order to give inflection to foreign, recycled productions that plagiarise, often pathetically, what goes on within the Anglo-American scene.

Such a situation sadly continues to erode the confidence that is needed to admit, once and for all, that the dramatic arts should be seen as bound up with the language of the people, that is if we are to respect ourselves as a nation.

We also feel L-Akkademja tal-Malti should continue to agitate for the affirmation of national drama. Creating a national drama programme is something that has been solicited even by the Everitt Report on the state of culture and the arts in Malta, submitted to the Council of Europe last year.

The Everitt Report states, in section B7: Arts Development (p.29-30) that the performing arts should address the common people to foster social empowerment and combat social exclusion. The report also recommends plainly the eventual establishment of a National Theatre Company or even companies.

What the Everitt Report does not recommend is the perpetuation of imported and blatantly reproduced material that is counter-productive to the concept of theatre as a liberating force and as an analytical instrument that is nationally representative of contemporary realities.

Dr Briffa is president of L-Akkademja tal-Malti.

Jon Rosser, for Showtime, writes:

I must say I was mildly surprised at the tone and content of Dr Briffa's letter. Contrary to what he asserts, Showtime made no hard and fast claims for its survey. In fact, it said: "It is, we freely admit, entirely subjective". "A toe-in-the-water survey. Not intended to be taken too seriously".

Showtime received over 400 replies to some 600 e-mails that were sent out. The addresses were gleaned from the mailing lists of the Manoel Theatre, Masquerade Theatre Group and Theatreworx. We felt these entities represented a large bulk of the core audience at our main theatres namely: The Manoel Theatre, St James Centre for Creativity, The Mediterranean Conference Centre and the MITP theatre.

Nowhere on our front page article did we denigrate Maltese language theatre. We merely reported the results of the survey. These were the opinions of theatergoers, not, repeat not, necessarily the opinions of Showtime.

The fact that over 98 per cent of those polled prefer to watch plays in the English language may be considered regrettable by Dr Briffa but that is how it panned out. I think the word prefer is important here. They prefer to watch performances in English; nobody said they refuse to watch theatre productions in Maltese.

Not one person who replied uttered a syllable against Maltese language theatre.

Nobody is trying to undermine Maltese drama, least of all Showtime. We cover Maltese language productions as well as those in English.