Into an arena of poetry

Theatre
Xenos
Salesians Theatre

Xenos, the Greek word for “stranger” or “foreigner”, was the title of the latest production by Atturi Salesjani that took place last weekend.

The energy and commitment with which these young debutantes embrace their performance was endearing and certainly to be encouraged- Carmel Serracino

James Spiteri, a fresh University graduate in Theatre Studies, directed the piece. From his confident demeanour and evident showmanship, the young director seems to be bent on making his mark in the local theatre scene.

Mr Spiteri not only felt he needed to introduce the work to the audience before entering the theatre, but also thought it fitting to have the final word at the end of the show, which is rather unusual in theatre. Presumably for lack of space in the anteroom to the theatre, the director had to deliver three rounds of his introductory speech, each time to a different batch of audience.

It must go to Mr Spiteri’s credit that the production, though failing most of the time to fully engage the audience, was rather ambitious in its scope.

He was directing a group of nine, very young actors, the majority of whom having had no theatrical experience at all.

According to the promotional information circulated by e-mail, preparation started last September with rigorous six-hour workshops in which the actors were coached “to be creative and to train their body to overcome physical barriers”.

At some point the “xenos” theme was chosen around which to build a bilingual performance on aspects of xenophobia and social alienation, with a text based on a huge amount of poetic excerpts from a rich variety of poets, ranging from Wilfred Owen and Sarah Kane to Rużar Briffa and Mario Azzopardi.

The result was a very lengthy – or what certainly felt to be so – montage of bits of poetry, often recited in angry or hysterical bursts by actors who kept running in and out of stage.

The Salesian proscenium stage was transformed in a theatre-in-the-round for the actors to share more intimately with their audience.

The central acting space was covered in a thick layer of dust as a metaphor of the motherland’s soil, the sand of the arena of life, as well as the dust whence we come and whither we return.

The clouds of smoke that the actors’ feet and hands continuously stirred up created a beautiful effect when caught in the beams of the lights from above.

However, one must say that this literally arena-concept was rather unwholesome and could have been harmful to people allergic to dust, especially since theatrical-smoke was also used considerably.

The young performers displayed a lot of energy and vitality, showing that their heart was in the project. Some of the actors stood out from the rest. One nimble actor, in a kind of Harlequin garb, was particularly suc­cessful in creating some comic relief.

The fact that his role was silent perhaps helped, since most of the actors betrayed a degree of vocal deficiency in their articulation.

However, a couple of actors appeared to have a promising voice which would in future serve them better if given the right training. One actress, reminiscent of the Mad Woman in the Attic, was up in the fly tower running across the narrow wooden walkways and crashing down on us a deluge of verse in English.

The actors were Peter Valletta, Oliver Cilia, Rachel Cianco, Emily Mifsud, Danielle Ciantar, Keith Bonnici, Luke Tabone, Rebecca Mercieca, and Michaela Cardona.

The performance reached a climax of sorts with a rowdy festive scene involving all actors, during which cups of hot chocolate were handed out to the audience, a much-appreciated gesture.

A round theatre can be most distracting when one is tempted to let one’s attention wander from the central action and linger behind it, on the faces of the sitters across.

It was thus very easy to discern that the audience here was mostly made up of youngsters, presumably friends of the actors and other members of the Salesian community.

There were many giggles, repressed and not, from these young people as they watched their friends perform. This contributed to the general juvenile charm pervading the mood of the whole evening.

The aforementioned promotion to this play also stated that it will “challenge traditional norms in approaching theatre”, that this is “a new approach in working on performance”.

Of course, the only innovative thing about this piece was probably the young director’s persistent presence, unless the writing was actually referring to the more traditional genre of theatre-work regularly put up at the Salesian Theatre.

However, the energy and commitment with which these young debutantes embraced their performance was endearing and certainly to be encouraged.