Got a clever concept for a show? The brains behind the ŻiguŻajg International Children’s Festival want to hear it. Festival manager Daniel Azzopardi tells Veronica Stivala why he wants to share your ideas.
The Bronze Age, the Minoans, Socrates, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, the Medieval period, Charlemagne, the Great Schism… No, these are not keywords for a new encyclopedia but some of the protagonists and topics in a madcap theatre show that brazenly tackles the entire history of Europe from its formation to the creation of the EU.
Performed at this year’s ŻiguŻajg International Children’s Festival, The Complete History of Europe (More or Less) rushed audiences at breakneck speed through over 6,000 years of history in the space of an hour. Yes, an hour. Attempting to give a serious, if ridiculously ambitious, history lesson, Malcolm Galea is constantly interrupted by Joseph Zammit who, for example, just had to bring out his clothes to iron when poor Galea attempted to describe the Iron Age.
The results of the pitching session varied from interactive digital animation, to visual arts, dance, story-telling, drama and music
The Complete History of Europe (More or Less) was one of the eight commissioned productions for last year’s ŻiguŻajg, which saw 214 shows being performed by 194 artists in some 23 productions in 26 locations around Valletta last month. The play was borne out of a brainstorming session – entitled Pitch Your Idea held at the beginning of last year.
Creative people were invited to pitch their ideas to a festival committee. The best were selected and the companies whose works were chosen went through an arduous process which took around a year for their idea to become a reality.
Difficult as the process may have been, it worked. The results of the pitching session varied from interactive digital animation to visual arts, dance, story-telling, drama and music. And it is being repeated for the next festival this year. Although the brains behind ŻiguŻajg (Toni Attard is the artistic director and Daniel Azzopardi is festival manager) know the importance of exposing young audiences to diverse foreign acts, they also value the high quality of local talent.
Pitch your Idea offers the opportunity of an open door session, where people are invited to present and discuss their ideas together with fellow practitioners, the selection committee and the festival creative team. Azzopardi notes how the team is looking for quality original works – borne from “new enticing ideas that generate enthus-iasm in our audiences” – in all disciplines, from visual to performing arts, from multimedia to literature and beyond.
“The thinking behind this event is to provide a platform for creatives to present their ideas, and eventually devise good quality professional work. Those selected are mentored and encouraged to draft a comprehensive action plan with the prospect of exporting their works to other festivals.
“The event is usually attended by people who are interested in creating great work for children and young people, mainly arts enthusiasts and practitioners,” Azzopardi explains.
The organisers aim to eventually have a strong national repertoire of works to present to national and international audiences.
Speaking of international audiences, Club (a show that mixes dance, music and physical theatre to explore the world of today’s cyber-teenager) was selected as one of just six international companies to participate in the prestigious Tin Forest Theatre Festival in Glasgow (yes, where the Commonwealth Games are being held) this year. This will be in collaboration with The National Theatre of Scotland.
The future looks bright for other local shows too; Neith: Performing Our World, a Malta Arts Fund project, is also in discussions to tour abroad, while Ħrejjef and The More or Less series continue their run of success with invitations to perform at both national and international events. Ħrejjef was staged at the Washington Art Festival last October while The More or Less series had been touring schools throughout 2013.
Having watched a number of shows, all of which I enjoyed at the festival, I’m curious to know what Azzopardi thinks about what worked and what did not. Clearly, the organisers are go-getters and what the Żigużajgers want, the Żigużajgers get. They wanted more audiences , and they got more audiences. By focusing on the morning programme aimed at students, school audiences totalled 6,000, up from 4,500 in 2012. Public audiences reached a whopping 10,500.
For future festivals, they want more teenagers to attend, have more artists creatively committed, nurture international networks and build on an already established accessible inclusive platform. We look forward to a bigger and better festival.
Pitch Your Idea is being held at St James Cavalier, Valletta, on January 29. Send your written proposal to ziguzajg.admin@sjcav.org by Wednesday. The proposal should include information about your experience, or that of the group you are working with, an indication as to the age group you are aiming for and any other information you may think important for your project to be better assessed.