Theatre
Minn Wara ż-Żipp
Sir Temi Zammit Hall

Maltese audiences love a good rip-roaring, side-splitting laugh, or should one say, in the case of Unifaun’s revival of Trevor Zahra’s popular play, a ‘zip-splitting’ laugh?

To write a witty and intelligent play about the male genitalia is an achievement in itself, but this is what Zahra managed to do and thanks to Chris Gatt’s excellent direction, Minn Wara ż-Żipp, staged over the last two weekends at Sir Temi Zammit Hall, was definitely a good choice for a revival.

The entire production has, as its protagonist, the penis, which was christened firillu in a euphemistic attempt to tone it down from the actual Maltese term for it; but one F-word must lead to others and this very particular member of the male anatomy has had several Fs in a tizzy from Freud to feminists.

Zahra’s knack for sharp one-liners coupled with throwaway lines was mastered by the three performers to the point to excellence

Taking the form of a series of ‘chapters’ in the phases of the life of a penis and his hypothetical owner, from childhood to old age, the conversations tackled various issues, often on a roller coaster of hilarity and very-well-paced quips and truths which are universally experienced by men of all ages.

Touching upon the darker side of sexuality was a more sober segment on the dark and lonely road men have to walk when dealing with homosexuality, STDs and erectile dysfunction among other related problems, but this quickly gave way to more humorous quips and anecdotes.

The revival saw a few minor script changes to keep the content topical, but the more major change was the inclusion of a vocalist and small band – all members of the larger band Milk Mi (very appropriately named) – Maria Luana on vocals, Myles on guitar and Yan on drums added a great singalong element to an already varied sketch show.

Their supporting music compli-mented the three main actors’ fine interpretations with the right dose of collaborative showmanship.

Joseph Galea, Jean Pierre Busuttil and Renato Dimech were the three quirky men who took the audience on a narrative journey of what it means to be a man – in a very anatomical sense, and how it influences our behaviour and the way we think. It was as much an exercise in character doubling and short-sketch adaptation as it was in marrying masculinity with emotional awareness.

Busuttil’s languidly funny interpretations contrasted with Dimech’s more histrionic and panicky characters while Galea tried playing it cool without ever forgetting the occasionally clumsy, gauche aspect of the portrayals he gave.

With slick timing and sharp dynamics, the show, in spite of being a sketch performance, came across as being very unified.

From personifying the penis as different character types based on celebrities, to the different ways in which they behave based on their owners’ lifestyles, the whole process of acquainting the audience with the realities of what might happen in a man’s nether regions was historically informative as wellas entertaining.

Zahra’s knack for sharp one-liners coupled with throwaway lines was mastered by the three performers to the point of excellence.

Minn Wara ż-Żipp was fun and refreshing simply because it was unapologetically irreverent and made no excuses about it, taking on an honest attitude and resulting in a highly entertaining evening.