Scored by the legendary Jocelyn Pook and remixed to satisfy contemporarycravings, the upcoming MADC production of Romeo & Juliet kicks off this week. Ramona Depares interviews director Luke Farrugia.

It’s that time of the year again, when The Bard comes a-knocking thanks to MADC’s annual pro-duction at San Anton Gardens, by now firmly entrenched in the summer arts calendar.

This year, the theatre company’s choice has fallen upon that greatest love story of all times, Romeo and Juliet.

And orchestrating it all we have the MADC’s youngest Shakespeare director (probably) so far – Luke Farrugia, taking a break from his London base for a short sabbatical on the local boards.

And, despite a casting process that proved to be more arduous than usual, with the leading man recast more than once, things are looking exciting for the ambitious production, which we’ve been promised will follow the contemporary trend of remixing the text while remaining sensitive to its origins.

You are probably the youngest MADC Shakespeare director so far – how do you feel about it? Was Shakespeare always on the radar for you?

It’s quite a daunting task. I’ve sort of stumbled into the idea of directing almost by accident – having been inspired by the various external and in house directors we were exposed to at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in the UK, where I was training as an actor.

I started out by directing a play called Women and Wallace at the MADC One Act Play Festival and it ended up winning Best Production. After that I fell in love with it. Then, the opportunity to direct the MADC Shakespeare was given to me and I didn’t hesitate.

Yes, I have always loved Shakespeare and in fact have taken part in three MADC Shakespeare productions as an actor. To prepare for this directorial debut, I shadowed a few directors who were working with us throughout my training.

What attracted you to the production, particularly given that the popularity of Shakespeare with younger theatre goers is somewhat waning?

Well, firstly my love of Shakespeare. Younger theatregoers everywhere seem to have a declining interest in Shakespeare, it’s not just here.

The Globe in the UK is having outreach programmes and almost having to beg schools to come see their productions, besides abridging the shows to suit the audience.

I believe Shakespeare is a gift to any young actor or director. The wealth of the material is immense and anyone serious about their career should consider taking on the bard’s work.

It takes a certain affinity to the work – it’s not everyone’s cup of tea – as well as a thorough discipline in order to honour and preserve the text. However, what Shakespeare plays also give you is an extraordinary ability to re-create and remix.

Nowadays – when everyone has already encountered Shakespeare texts in various ways, shapes or forms – whether through having studied it at school or through watching any of the innumerable film adaptations – my job as a director is to find a new angle in on the story. How can we make a story so renowned and loved as Romeo and Juliet fresh and new? That’s a challenge and a gift for any director.

Will you be going for the straightforward approach or will the production be doing a Baz Lurhmann?

Nowadays, the approach to Shakespeare is one of remixing. Everyone is trying to find out new ways of presenting what has already been done so many times. So this production – while not being completely in the vein of a Baz Lurhmann – is more akin to it than not.

I don’t believe there’s any point in trying to do what has already been done. My job as a director is to take risks and “boldly go where no man has gone before”.

I would think it more valuable to encourage young people to watch Shakespeare plays rather than to force academia of it down their throats

I’m a big believer in holistic approaches of theatre and feel like Shakespeare plays can carry a weight of Wagnerian proportions – and thus we have included a lot of music and dance.

The wonderful Jocelyn Pook, award-winning composer of Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, has allowed us to use her music for this production, which is an absolute dream.

We’ve also included a few nods towards the famous incarnations of Romeo and Juliet as done by others such as Fellini, Luhrmann and others for those who have the eyes to see them.

A cheeky way of paying homage to the greats as well as acknowledging the audience’s pre-knowledge of other incarnations of the play. I guess the biggest note for this production is that it is quite self-aware. And that’s all I’ll say.

Would you say the storyline still has contemporary appeal in today’s world? If so, how?

The best thing about Shakespeare is indeed the universality of all his plays. The truth that they uncover is so deep and really captures the essence of what it is to be human.

And, no matter how many years go by and how many things change, while we still remain true to our humanity, Shakespeare will always have a place within our minds and literature.

Without spoiling too much of what we are planning, I think this play in particular has a very important message that applies always: Take care of the youth. Romeo and Juliet did everything out of the corner of the adults’ eyes.

Could it have been prevented? Could anyone have done more? This play will ask those questions.

The part of Romeo had to be recast twice. How did this impact the production?

Casting this particular production was a bit of a nightmare, firstly because it centres so much around male roles. Unfortunately, Malta has a sore lack of men who are interested in acting and in theatre in general – and an even fewer proportion of those who are would want to go anywhere near a Shakespeare.

Finding the right balance of people who fit together in a way that would make sense within the play was extremely tough, besides needing to find people who balance each other out.

But, thankfully, the creative team and I had the good sense of starting the search a year ago and by April (the beginning of our rehearsal period) we had the full cast assembled, committed and ready to go.

What has been the biggest challenge bringing the production together?

The biggest challenge was definitely sticking to my guns and having a unifying vision of the entire piece, but at the same time. It is all very well to have a concept and to run with it, but it takes a good sense of judgement to shed old and adopt new ideas in order to work for the sake of the piece and not for the sake of the original concept.

The production has changed very much from my original vision but it has evolved in an organic way together with the help of the creative team as well as what the actors have offered.

Also another big challenge was balancing all the pre-production elements of this show with my course in the UK.

As I said before, the casting process began in August and since then the ball has been steadily rolling. It took a great amount of discipline and time management in order to make efficient time on this show. I’ve only been down in Malta for two weeks and the show is almost done.

How did you feel about Shakespeare back in secondary school? And what is your reaction to the fact that it’s being slowly phased out of the national curriculum?

I fell in love with Shakespeare in secondary school and sixth form. My reaction to the decline of Shakespeare is, however, quite ambivalent – and I give the word its original meaning, not today’s negative connotation.

I, personally have always loved literature and Shakespeare in particular, and thus think that it is a great pity to lose it within our education.

However, at the same time – since having trained as an actor I see how important it is to actually realise Shakespeare plays were meant to be watched and not studied. There is a great deal of skill that goes into academic analysis of the plays and that is, of course, crucial to how we understand the text and unlocking many of its secrets.

However, a lot of the time, you are forced to realise most academia is more or less intransmutable when you come to stage it.

And if that is the way the play was intended to have been experienced – I would think it more valuable to encourage young people to watch Shakespeare plays rather than to force the academia of it down their throats.

The Globe Theatre in London have an educational programmewhich develops abridged Shakespeare productions while still honouring the original text.

It invites schools from the area to watch, in order to promote Shakespeare scripts as they were meant to be seen to young people.

The programme is still in its early days and still doesn’t seem to excite as many people as one would have hoped.

Then, again, the production of Hamlet starring the wonderful Benedict Cumberbatch seems to be a massive incentive for people to come and watch. It’s all a matter of perspective really.

What is on the horizon after Romeo and Juliet?

I’m in talks to direct a few more projects here in the future, but the most imminent plan now is to go back to London as soon as Romeo and Juliet is done in order to further pursue my career as an actor. After all, I’ve only just graduated and now is the time for me to audition.

But Malta will always be somewhere I return to every now and then in order to do a couple of labours of love. So I’m sure it won’t be too long before something crops up.

Romeo and Juliet is part of the Malta Arts Festival and runs between Thursday and July 31 at 8.15pm at San Anton Gardens, Attard. Philip Leone-Ganado is Romeo, Erica Muscat is Juliet while other leading roles are played by Coryse Borg, Stefan Cachia Zammit and Joe Zammit. Tickets are available online.

www.madc.com.mt