Following on from the success of Ċaqlaq! last year, another high-energy performance was devised to help teenagers learn important life lessons. This time, the focus was on road safety.
Today’s teenagers face a whole plethora of challenges that we weren’t exposed to while growing up, including the omnipresent influence of the Internet and mobile technology.
However, some of the dangers out there have been around for a long time, but that doesn’t make them any less significant – and that is exactly the thinking behind Street Smart, a cultural initiative and theatre production that highlights the importance of road safety and awareness in young teenagers.
“Street Smart’s message is one that encourages children to stick to the rules, even though that’s not something that they tend to want to do,” says actor P.J. Xerxen, who plays some of the quirky characters in the piece.
“Road safety issues make it into the news all the time, whether that’s because a crash has taken place or yet another life has sadly been lost. This happens when the rules aren’t respected, so we wanted to approach that topic with our young audiences. We found that it is useless trying to teach young people what not to do when the adults are the ones setting the bad example, so we had to broach that too.”
As a result, Street Smart was born. This show actually follows on from another project developed by the same team last year called Ċaqlaq! The latter focused on the importance of healthy living and physical activity, and was staged in 20 schools across Malta.
Just like Ċaqlaq!, Street Smart was also commissioned by Middlesea Insurance on behalf of Fundacion Mapfre – a non-profit institution created in 1979 to contribute to the welfare of citizens and society. Today, Mapfre has programmes that are carried out in 29 countries and which have worked with over 15 million people.
Theatre house Generation Green and creative company JP Advertising crafted a show designed to hit home with 12- and 13-year-olds, and which encouraged them to make good choices when it comes to road safety. The results were instantly positive.
As Matthew Randon, Generation Green’s producer and project co-ordinator, explains, most students watching the show already seemed to have a good understanding of the basics, but that grassroots awareness of dangerous techniques still proved to be a vital part of their education.
Despite the seriousness of the topic at hand, the team wanted to keep the content as light-hearted as possible. As a result, the production is split into three main sketches with a game at the end, and it is presented by three actors – Xerxen, Mario Cassar and Julian Calleja.
The first sketch tells the story of an impressionable young boy called Jayden Fulu, as well as his mother, and Alex il-King – the coolest boy at his school.
The production is split into three main sketches with a game at the end, and is presented by three actors
“It’s a laugh-a-minute for the students, until Jayden and Alex il-King end up racing each other on their motorised bicycles,” says Jon Mallia, who produced, wrote and directed the show.
“The race ends with a comical crash, complete with a funny end-of-sketch song that still manages to convey a serious message to the students.”
The second part of the show combines a scripted sketch with interactive elements that the children can get involved in.
In this sketch, two new characters, Tony l-Berqa and his wife Filomena, go on a laughter-packed drive that encourages the young audience to yell ‘Stop!’ every time the boisterous Maltese couple does something wrong while driving.
“The children really get involved and have a great time shouting out instructions while learning something valuable at the same time,” continues Randon.
The third sketch is also very interactive and incites the audience to shout out instructions as one of the actors pretends to make his way to work. “The idea is that the road signs need to be yelled out faster and faster as the piece progresses – and then even backwards when the character has to rush home to pick up his lunch,” says Randon.
At the end of the show, the audience is split into teams for a light-hearted game that recaps all the points and topics discussed in the show, as well as some other important road safety facts.
“All in all, the students get to experience an hour of non-stop fun, laughter and games, combined with facts and knowledge about basic road rules. It is the sort of information that could really keep them safe,” says Mallia.
This year’s campaign targeted 20 private, government and Church secondary schools and was aimed at children in forms one and two – an impressionable age group that is often hard to get through to.
“The important thing is to teach and clarify the basic rules of the road, and to give these young people a positive introduction to safer driving behaviour. This, of course, helps them now as pedestrians and passengers, as well as in the future when they become drivers themselves,” Mallia concludes.