Second half
Showtime previews the latter half of the local theatre season
If the first half of the 2007/2008-theatre season, which we previewed last month, looks tasty, then the latter half should have the lot of you salivating.
If we begin with our national theatre, the first half of January 2008 will, as usual be occupied with this year's panto. MADC's production of Pirates of The Mediterranean, directed by Nanette Brimmer and written by Edward Merceica continues until January 13.
Following it into The Manoel will be Mario Micallef's Talenti company with Dejjaqtuni. This will be Tony Cassar Darien's translation into Maltese of Michael Pertwee's comedy Do Not Disturb. This will play from January 18 to 20.
For the last weekend in January The Manoel will produce Maltese exile Mario Philip Azzopardi's strong play Sulari fuq Strada Stretta. It's been a long time arriving on the Maltese stage and should prove to be one of the season's high points.
The MADC are back in The Manoel for six nights in February. From February 8 to 10 and the following weekend from February 15 to 17 they will present Glorious by Peter Quilter. This is a play about one of the worst sopranos who ever attempted (and failed) to hit a top C Florence Foster Jenkins.
Then for the weekend February 22 to 24 Masquerade move into The Manoel with Michael Frayn's very funny play Alarms And Excursions. This is actually eight short plays all played by the same four actors. It deals with the frustrations engendered by modern technology.
Drama at The Manoel then takes a back seat for most of March while the BOV Opera Festival holds the stage. But at the end of the month Unifaun are due to stage their first production in the national theatre with Trevor Zahra's original play in Maltese Minn Wara z-Zipp. This takes the form of a series of monologues on the theme of men. Some people have categorised this work as a male version of The Vagina Monologues. It will be directed by Chris Gatt.
The final play at The Manoel this season will also be in Maltese. It is entitled Ghadek Tiftakar lil Dorian Gray? It is an adaptation for the stage by Tony Cassar Darien of Oscar Wilde's novel A Portrait Of Dorian Grey. The play is to be produced by Curtain Raiser and will be staged in April. At the St James Centre For Creativity there will be a lot of theatre in the second half of the season.
From January 18 and each weekend up to February 3 the MADC will present Teechers, a play by the prolific Yorkshire playwright John Godber. Teechers is set in a tough school and is both very funny and extremely profound. It will be directed by Tony Attard.
Also in February Michael Fenech's company Ideas Alive will be responsible for producing Alfred Buttigieg's new play Ippermettili Nitlaq. To be directed by Immanuel Mifsud and with Hubert Mugliett and Chris Grech in the cast. The play deals with the difficult subject of medical ethics and the human dilemma facing the different stakeholders in a situation where a child is born with the condition omphalocele, which means that the child will have no quality of life whatsoever.
There is then a gap until March 14 when Tyrone Grima's production company will be staging a drama about the great French feminist and existential thinker Simone de Beauvoir. This will run for three days.
At the end of March Patrick Vella's company Curtain Raiser take over the theatre-in-the-round with a play aimed largely at children The Little Prince. It will occupy the theatre for eight performances from March 29 straight through to April 5.
During April Talenti will present a production at St James. The title of the piece is unknown at the time of going to press, but what we do know is that it will be written and directed by Lino Farrugia and have a cast comprising Monica Attard plus Natalie and Mario Micallef.
Away from the mainstream venues, Bronk will be producing five productions between January and April. They will produce four plays in the Catholic Institute, Floriana and one - a song festival Fl-Ghaqda l-Melodija - in the GWU Theatre in Valletta.
Unifaun are also staging a production at the MITP theatre in Valletta for the last weekend in January and the first in February. It will be the anarchic and highly controversial play Mercury Fur by Philip Ridley. Not one to take your maiden aunt to see, we think.
So, with one or two more gaps still to be filled, the latter part of the upcoming theatre season promises to be one of the best for many years.
If we begin with our national theatre, the first half of January 2008 will, as usual be occupied with this year's panto. MADC's production of Pirates of The Mediterranean, directed by Nanette Brimmer and written by Edward Merceica continues until January 13.
Following it into The Manoel will be Mario Micallef's Talenti company with Dejjaqtuni. This will be Tony Cassar Darien's translation into Maltese of Michael Pertwee's comedy Do Not Disturb. This will play from January 18 to 20.
For the last weekend in January The Manoel will produce Maltese exile Mario Philip Azzopardi's strong play Sulari fuq Strada Stretta. It's been a long time arriving on the Maltese stage and should prove to be one of the season's high points.
The MADC are back in The Manoel for six nights in February. From February 8 to 10 and the following weekend from February 15 to 17 they will present Glorious by Peter Quilter. This is a play about one of the worst sopranos who ever attempted (and failed) to hit a top C Florence Foster Jenkins.
Then for the weekend February 22 to 24 Masquerade move into The Manoel with Michael Frayn's very funny play Alarms And Excursions. This is actually eight short plays all played by the same four actors. It deals with the frustrations engendered by modern technology.
Drama at The Manoel then takes a back seat for most of March while the BOV Opera Festival holds the stage. But at the end of the month Unifaun are due to stage their first production in the national theatre with Trevor Zahra's original play in Maltese Minn Wara z-Zipp. This takes the form of a series of monologues on the theme of men. Some people have categorised this work as a male version of The Vagina Monologues. It will be directed by Chris Gatt.
The final play at The Manoel this season will also be in Maltese. It is entitled Ghadek Tiftakar lil Dorian Gray? It is an adaptation for the stage by Tony Cassar Darien of Oscar Wilde's novel A Portrait Of Dorian Grey. The play is to be produced by Curtain Raiser and will be staged in April. At the St James Centre For Creativity there will be a lot of theatre in the second half of the season.
From January 18 and each weekend up to February 3 the MADC will present Teechers, a play by the prolific Yorkshire playwright John Godber. Teechers is set in a tough school and is both very funny and extremely profound. It will be directed by Tony Attard.
Also in February Michael Fenech's company Ideas Alive will be responsible for producing Alfred Buttigieg's new play Ippermettili Nitlaq. To be directed by Immanuel Mifsud and with Hubert Mugliett and Chris Grech in the cast. The play deals with the difficult subject of medical ethics and the human dilemma facing the different stakeholders in a situation where a child is born with the condition omphalocele, which means that the child will have no quality of life whatsoever.
There is then a gap until March 14 when Tyrone Grima's production company will be staging a drama about the great French feminist and existential thinker Simone de Beauvoir. This will run for three days.
At the end of March Patrick Vella's company Curtain Raiser take over the theatre-in-the-round with a play aimed largely at children The Little Prince. It will occupy the theatre for eight performances from March 29 straight through to April 5.
During April Talenti will present a production at St James. The title of the piece is unknown at the time of going to press, but what we do know is that it will be written and directed by Lino Farrugia and have a cast comprising Monica Attard plus Natalie and Mario Micallef.
Away from the mainstream venues, Bronk will be producing five productions between January and April. They will produce four plays in the Catholic Institute, Floriana and one - a song festival Fl-Ghaqda l-Melodija - in the GWU Theatre in Valletta.
Unifaun are also staging a production at the MITP theatre in Valletta for the last weekend in January and the first in February. It will be the anarchic and highly controversial play Mercury Fur by Philip Ridley. Not one to take your maiden aunt to see, we think.
So, with one or two more gaps still to be filled, the latter part of the upcoming theatre season promises to be one of the best for many years.