With less than a week to go till Il-Marid Immaġinarju hits the stage, Iggy Fenech interviews Magdalena Van Kuilenburg about Dù Theatre’s first comedy.

Magdalena van KuilenburgMagdalena van Kuilenburg

Founded in 2004, Dù has now grown into one of the island’s best-known theatre companies. Yet in the past 11 years, Dù has never done a comedy.

Personally, when I think of Dù, the first thing that comes to mind is their heart-wrenching and awe-inspiring rendition of Euripedes’s timeless Greek tragedy Medea, translated into Maltese by Oliver Friggieri.

This was my very first experience of Dù back in 2008 and it’s been imprinted in my mind ever since: as a story of betrayal and revenge, the company had wholly managed to ace it.

But Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid, which Dù is now ready to unveil, is very different from Medea or any other of Dù’s previous productions for that matter.

So… Will they manage? Why did they decide to do it? And why this script?

“Il-Marid Immaġinarju is a famous classic penned by the great French playwright, Molière,” says Magdalena van Kuilenburg, one of the actors taking part in the production and the technical co-ordinator of the Dù Theatre group.

“Even though the play was written in the 1670s we were amazed by how contemporary it feels, so, as Dù, we decided to show our comical stance and go all-out with a fantastic project.

“To do this, we have taken the commedia dell’arte, a form of theatre that originated in Italy and is characterised by masked types, as a starting point and stretched it out to the Malta 2015 scene,” she says. “The production is shaping up nicely and we are pleased with the positive reactions we’ve got so far.”

As one of the founding members of Dù, Van Kuilenburg has taken part in many of the group’s previous productions, including Pollen (2004), Weeds (2005), Truth or Dare (2009) and Fly Flynn! (2014), for which she was one of the puppeteers.

Her career has been long and varied and she has taken part in various theatre festivals and theatrical encounters in Malta, Israel, Hungary, Spain, Sicily, Denmark, Egypt and Macedonia.

“Molière showed his genius with this script because every line, pause and change were made for a reason,” says Magda. “It is evident that Molière was an actor as well as a playwright since the script caters for every transition, physical requirement and thought process each performer has to go through during the play.

What’s going to be interesting about this comedy is how things were adapted to mirror contemporary Maltese society

“The Maltese translation by George Cassola is very loyal to the original script too, and it’s very easy to work with. In fact, the rehearsal process has been a blast.

“Unfortunately, however, it’s proving to be a huge challenge to put on our serious faces while working on our comic timing, but we’ve managed to created a great team in a short time.

“I’m really enjoying it and I actually look forward to attend rehearsals… People falling off from chairs, not getting their lines right or saying something outright silly, bathroom emergencies and out-rageous use of props are just some of the things that have made the rehearsal process hilarious.”

In this comedy, Van Kuilenburg is going to be playing Beline, the gold-digging wife of the rich, imaginary invalid (played by Chrysander Agius) who thinks he’s constantly dying albeit his clean bill of health.

“Beline is one who involves herself in many devious relation-ships just to maintain her opulent lifestyle and she will go to great lengths to ensure that her husband’s fortune doesn’t go to his doctors but to her,” says Magda.

“She’s over bombastic and portrays a very fake persona, which is proving to be a pleasant challenge during rehearsals as none of her traits reflect my character in real life. I love to take on challenges like these, though, and I enjoy playing characters with big personalities.”

What’s going to be interesting about this comedy is how things were adapted to mirror contemporary Maltese society, however. The apothecaries have become doctors, the remedies have been turned into 21st century treatments and the accompanying music is going to be a blend of traditional Maltese sounds married with the fore-runner of reggae, ska.

“Since the project is going to portray the 2015 Maltese scene, Kazinska were the ideal band to collaborate with,” she says. “The band is famous for their ska music blended with a traditional Maltese sound and this is exactly what the audience can expect to hear.”

Even so, the essence of the play has remained as Molière intended in the 1673. After all, certain human traits are not bound by time or space; they are ever-present in every nationality, society and family at any particular time in history.

And that’s what makes this script such a classic and why “you’ll be missing out on something amazing, funny and fantastic if you don’t get your ticket and watch this performance,” Van Kuilenburg says.

Il-Marid Immaġinarju runs at the City Theatre in Valletta on Friday, Saturday and next Sunday. The cast includes Chrysander Agius, Carlos Farrugia, Elaine Saliba, Simone Spiteri, Daniel Azzopardi, Pierre Stafrace, Van Kuilenburg van Kuilenburg, Jean Marc Cafa’ and Francesca Pulis. Tickets are available online or from the Embassy Cinema Box Office in Valletta.

www.ticketline.com.mt

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