Experimental play scoops MADC awards

An experimental play about mental anguish and psychological distress landed the major awards at the annual MADC one-act play festival staged last weekend.

Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis directed by Toni Attard won both the best production and best director awards while young actress Elektra Anastasi beat off stiff competition to win the best actress award for the same production.

The judges lauded Mr Attard for the way he crafted and staged a difficult play which ultimately has no characters and where the text is laid out in the conventions of a modernist poem, rather than those of a play text. He was assisted by Chris Tanti.

Thanks to his success, the MADC committee will be offering Mr Attard the chance to direct a production for the club in the coming seasons.

4.48 Psychosis was completed shortly before Kane's suicide in 1999 and produced posthumously. Kane splits her protagonist's self into actors whose identities shift and interweaves fantasy and delusion with her life experience.

Darrin Zammit Lupi won the best actor award for his role of Sergeant Morris in the horror play The Monkey's Paw, directed by Jo Caruana. Chiara Hyzler won the most promising actress award for the same production Robert Zammit landed the most promising actor award for his role of Smirnoff in Chekov's The Bear, directed by Massimo Farrugia.

The plays were adjudicated by actors Mike Basmadjian and Isabel Warrington and Manoel Theatre artistic director Judie Farrugia.

Held at the clubrooms in St Venera since 1979, the MADC one-act play festival has served as a springboard for now established actors and directors.