Il-Kerrejja at the Manoel Theatre

Talenti stage company will this weekend stage its second production for the season, the classic play Il-Kerrejja by Ġużè Chetcuti.

The dramatist creates real situations wherein we encounter incidents and meet characters which live with us in our daily life. This type of people have lived with us at all times and will continue to live on because they are not figments of the imagination but made of flesh and blood as nature created them and will continue to do so.

Characters like Ġakkina, Karla, Roża, Mattija and Kruċa are characters which are commonly found in our towns and villages. These characters enbody what is beautiful and ugly in them: poverty, violence, jealousy and a quarrelsome nature. However, from this dark picture there shines love, kindness, respect and good manners.

Chetcuti’s aim through this drama was to snap a faithful picture of what life could have been in a lodging house, with the contacts and conflicts arising between individuals and families.

Moreover, he wanted to show the great need of education for these lodgers in order to lift them out of their ignorance and egoism.

During the play we shall re-live the dark days of World War II and how the Maltese used to live in their lodging houses but most important we shall see the real characters of people who although life had not smiled at them, and sometimes were at loggerheads, really knew how to love each other.

Taking part in Il-Kerrejja are some of the best local actors including Michael Tabone, Ninette Micallef, Mary Rose Mallia, Moira Muscat, Michelle Zerafa, Alan Fenech, Michael Sciortino, Marianne Muscat, Philip Mizzi, Gwido Fenech, Lilian Pace, Manuel Cutajar, Tony Mizzi, Marco Bartolo and others. Mario Micallef will direct the play.

• Il-Kerrejja is being staged at the Manoel Theatre on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets may be obtained by phone on 2124 6389, e-mail: bookings@teatrumanoel.com.mt or online: www.teatrumanoel.com.mt.