High attendance by young females at drama festival

Nearly half of the persons who attended this year's edition of Dramafest, organised by the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, were aged 30 or under.

Thirty two per cent of the audience were in the 21 to 30-year-old bracket and 12 per cent were under 20, according to a survey carried out by the Malta Drama Centre.

This year's edition of the experimental theatre festival was transferred to the centre after technical problems developed at St James Centre for Creativity.

A sample of 100 persons over one weekend of the festival showed that the vast majority of patrons (84 per cent) were female.

Asked what type of theatre they preferred, 40 per cent of respondents marked humorous material and the same percentage selected experimental pieces. On the other hand, 20 per cent preferred more "dramatic" performances. Only six per cent said they watched local TV drama.

Significantly, 46 per cent of those surveyed said they watch a theatrical performance between twice and 10 times a year and a substantial 28 per cent more than 10 times.

It makes no difference for the majority of respondents (44 per cent) whether a performance is presented in Maltese or English, but 32 per cent gave Maltese as their first preference while 24 per cent chose English as their preferred language medium.

The survey revealed that 28 per cent of patrons attending Dramafest are involved or have been involved in formal drama training, mostly as actors or technical crew. Two persons said they were involved as authors and another pair as directors.