After the success it encountered with young and older audiences last November during the ŻiguŻajg Arts Festival for Children, Il-Ħajja Xejn Cool ta’ Teenager Jismu Julian is being produced once again by Dù Theatre Group.
The play centres around Julian, an intelligent but naughty 14-year-old whose life is a disaster and not cool at all.
The production has also attracted praise from theatre critics. Andre Delicata, writing for The Times, commented: “A big bravo to all the cast for introducing many schoolchildren to theatre that is relevant, enjoyable and empowering.”
Paul Xuereb, theatre critic for The Sunday Times, describes it as “a breath of fresh air”.
Julian’s life is full of struggles, with bad news from school, no luck in joining the Form’s most popular gang, and to top it all, his mum and dad are separating.
However, Julian is also obsessed by Justin Artio, a character he created on a role-playing game. Artio is fearless, brave and smart – basically he’s all Julian wishes he was, but isn’t.
Things get complicated when it seems that his mother has met someone, when the school gang starts noticing him, and it’s time for his O levels. Julian needs to take decisions. But how? More importantly, what would Justin Artio do in his place?
The cast includes Kurt Castillo, Elaine Saliba, Mark Mifsud, Stephanie Bugeja and Claudio Carta and the director is Jean-Marc Cafà.
Written by Simone Spiteri, the play presents the audience with the difficulties encountered by teenagers during their daily life and is aimed at an audience aged 12 and over.
Il-Ħajja Xejn Cool ta’ Teenager Jismu Julian runs on Friday, Saturday and next Sunday at St James Cavalier at 7.30pm. Tickets cost €12 for adults and €8 for students. For more information or ticket discounts for families and groups, call on 2122 3200.
www.sjcav.org