A man with enormous wings crash-landed on the Green Line in Nicosia, Cyprus, bringing together Turkish and Greek Cypriots who allowed their friendship to drift when their country was divided after the 1974 Turkish invasion of the island.
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, the short story of Colombia's famous writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, has inspired a theatrical performance, by the same name, which was recently staged by Maltese, Cypriot and British actors.
The play, staged in Vittoriosa last summer, is the result of a joint effort between the British drama group Kneehigh, St James Cavalier and Cyprus' national theatre organisation Thoc, to set up the Three Islands Project. The three-year project was realised with support secured from Culture 2000, an EU-funded programme, which is sponsoring 50 per cent of the initiative.
The Three Islands Project included last summer's show in Vittoriosa, this individual performance in Cyprus using the island's landscape, and will end with another show in Cornwall, the base of the highly acclaimed group Kneehigh.
The company has travelled with its own productions of landscape theatre across the globe and the performance in Cornwall next year will coincide with Kneehigh's 25th anniversary.
Maltese actor Paul Portelli, who has just returned from Cyprus where he spent a month working with Kneehigh and Cypriot actors to stage the performance, described the show as an "incredible experience".
"Since this was site specific theatre we chose to stage the show near Ledra Palace, which now houses the UN delegation guarding the buffer zone - this was an old meeting point where Cypriots used to dance together before the country was divided," he said.
"We gave four performances and there were some beautiful, emotional moments. I witnessed Turkish Cypriots crossing the border and meeting Greek Cypriots who were old friends but who drifted apart when the country was divided."
Mr Portelli, who together with Jonathan Grima was one of the original actors when the play was staged in Malta, said that working with Kneehigh's artistic director Bill Mitchell was a privilege.
"Putting together a large scale production with limited resources in the span of just one month is amazing," he said.
The team from Malta, Cyprus and Cornwall gelled instantly despite the different backgrounds and a Cypriot band was also brought on board to play 26 original pieces of live music.
"It was nice to see them talking music not politics," Mr Portelli said.
For the show Cyprus was supported by the British Council, the Malta Arts Council, St James Cavalier and Cyprus' national theatre organisation Thoc.