Theatre
Ix-Xitan Kunjomu Malti
Manoel Theatre

The personification of evil has always been a fertile space for genre scripts to let loose and draw on horror and the occult to represent the eternal and much-analysed battle between good and evil. In every human civilisation, this has held people in fascination since the dawn of time.

Often guiding our religious and spiritual beliefs as a means of making sense of the atrocities of the world, these narratives focus on the very real and frightening nature of evil which is fed by fear and arrogant self-interest, and how it can be overcome by faith, reason, love and self-sacrifice for the greater good.

These baseline ideas have made it great fodder for books, film and TV scripts and, to a lesser extent, theatre too.

Staġun Teatrali Malti has attempted to bring this occult horror genre to the Maltese stage in Ix-Xitan Kunjomu Malti, written and directed by Mario Philip Azzopardi and currently running at the Manoel Theatre.

From Tolkien’s Sauron to the Satan Pit in the Whoniverse, suspense and fear of a dark, all-consuming evil has been a plot catalyst which allowed in-depth character studies of individual villains and victims/heroes.

Azzopardi has written a script with a local setting, while drawing on several tropes made popular by the more famous of cult genre films from the late 1960s onwards.

Roderick Vassallo plays Dun Ġwann, a Jesuit exorcist who has lately been feeling redundant due to his last subject apparently being resolved as a psychiatric case by the atheist and rational Dr Agius (Mikhail Basmadjian).

Kevin, played by a very controlled Jamie Cardona, turned out to be the youngest- ever case of schizophrenia to be identified. But Dun Ġwann doesn’t believe this and feels that his new case, which the Reverend Mother (Marvic Cordina) at the convent seems sceptical of, will redeem him and prove that his firm belief in the dangers of evil will be confirmed, while establishing him as a legitimate form of help and source of comfort to the afflicted.

Azzopardi has written a script with a local setting, while drawing on several tropes made popular by the more famous of cult genre’s films from the late 1960s onwards

Scottish schoolgirl Clara Leister (Shelby Aquilina) is afflicted with what appears to be demonic possession and in her fits, she speaks Maltese – a language she doesn’t have any knowledge of. Concerned about her failing health, her father Mr Leister (Paul Portelli) travels with her to Malta accompanied by Dr Spears (Polly March) as a last resort to find a cure for her.

As it happens, the Devil does seem to have set his sights on our lovely little rock – wanting to make it the centre of hellish retribution – as if petty-mindedness, apathy, the flouting of laws on planning permission and bad taste hadn’t already made it so. Maybe that’s why Satan (John Suda) took a liking to it: so similar to the underworld that the Maltese suited him perfectly in his quest for producing – you guessed it – Devil’s spawn.

Now any teacher worth their salt will confirm that there are already several of these in your typical classroom, normally answering to the names of Shenizienne and Shylon, but I digress. Clara is indeed possessed by a lesser demon and so is Kevin – they are part of Satan’s master plan to bring back the Antichrist, who will just so happen to be half-Gozitan and half-Scottish: which makes it all the more plausible.

And here is where echoes of satanic films past begin to rear their heads. With Aquilina’s hair styled like Samara Morgan’s from The Ring, and the promise that impregnated by Kevin, the fruit of her loins will bring about the end of the world as we know it by stamping out humans’ ability for free will, their demonic offspring makes more than a nod to Rosemary’s Baby and Damien from The Omen.

With a conflicted priest and possessed children, any association with The Exorcist is a natural step to make, while audiences had the promise of a barrage of Maltese expletives and lewd sexual comments as a manifestation of demonic possession – including the Reverend Mother’s possession.

What was particularly telling was the fact that the audience actually tittered during several segments of these supposedly terrifying scenes – such is our mentality in finding bad language funny.

The first act seemed tight enough and held the audience in suspense, but the second act was rather overdone, with too many tropes jostling one another for a shot at being the main plot driver. What worked well, along with the stunning set by Ino Bonello, were the scenes which contained conversation in both Maltese and English: a technique which clearly is appreciated by a bilingual audience and fits right in with the cultural background of our islands.

The production started off subdued with Vassallo’s Dun Ġwann unusually difficult to understand given his restrained and soft-spoken interpretation, which eventually built up to a stronger voice the moment he felt in a stronger position to defend his beliefs. Insofar as the acting and interpretation went, the cast was well chosen and performed well, giving solid and sensitive portrayals.

I appreciated Cordina’s very apt interpretation of the Reverend Mother, who grapples with the frightening reality of demonic possession while also falling under its grasp herself. The two doctors Agius and Spears, played by Basmadjian and March respectively, added an element of the rational and tried to explain the supernatural phenomena scientifically, but they too had to admit that what they were seeing was not a psychotic episode.

Suda’s portrayal as the Devil was unique because of his delivery and tone: there is something remarkably fun and idiosyncratic in Suda’s interpretation which makes his performances very enjoyable to watch. The Devil’s rather humorous lines and the scene where he directly addresses the audience was a jibe trying to remind the Maltese that they have a habit of forgetting what matters.

There is one query which comes to mind, however. Why does demonic possession always involve the victim speaking in a voice that resembles Darth Vader with a head cold? There are some elements of niche genres which can be quite tiresome, and this simply added to the overly-planned overthought effect of the second act, which was so complex in details that they detracted from the very noble ending: that Dun Ġwann sacrificed himself and his credibility, integrity and sanity to rid the world of great evil, thus becoming a hero in his own right.

In substituting subtlety and suggestion for blatant shock effects, the play stopped short of fulfilling its potential as an alternative piece of Maltese theatre and became a mere example of a set piece for mass entertainment.

• Ix-Xitan Kunjomu Malti is again being staged on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday at the Manoel Theatre at 8pm.