A top cast was announced last week for B’Tal-Linja Jaqbillek Żgur, the roaming show commissioned by the Malta Arts Festival 2016 and produced by Sean Buhagiar to a script by Simon Bartolo.
Veteran singer and actor Mary Rose Mallia takes on the role of protagonist for the show: “I believe Mary Rose Mallia has an amazing talent. Both Simon and myself were extremely pleased to have her captaining our bus,” said Buhagiar.
The show also includes a number of other well-known cast members, like Clive Piscopo, Ronald Briffa, Jamie Cardona, Gilbert Formosa, Marilù Vella, Peter Busuttil, Andre’ Mangion, Leigh-Ann Abela and Josette Ciappara.
The concept behind the piece is a simple one. An old Maltese Bus tours five villages around Malta and Gozo and perforoms in the village square.
“This might sound like an easy endeavour, but in reality it it is logistically complicated since it is a very loud, colourful show,” said Buhagiar, who is also directing the production. “It is ultimately a very fun street theatre production – we want the pjazza to be our stage. Everyone will experience it differently, you can get chairs, stand-up, sit down on the zuntier, at the cafeteria close by, or just close to actors. In fact, it’s all free to watch,” he continued.
Taking a look at the sketches and the notes, the show looks like a magical extravaganza of Maltese characters, noises and colours
Simon Bartolo, fresh from a sequence of comic successes in the past years, wrote a script with a different style this time – adapting his tongue-in-cheek to street theatre and surrealism. In fact, taking a look at the sketches and the notes, the show looks like a magical extravaganza of Maltese characters, noises and colours.
The ensemble was created through social theatre, with a number of auditions performed in schools and village drama groups. Many of the chosen ensemble actors come from backgrounds of passion plays, village shows and processions and the ensemble is led by experienced actresses such as Christine Francalanza and Alison Abela.
“This gives a stronger value to the project. Besides being wildly entertaining, this is a community project, a social project, and a regional project which hopeful leads to more democratisation of local theatre,” Buhagiar believes.
This is a regional development project since it is the first theatrical project to perform in the five regions of the island, with the help of the Valletta 2018 regional coordinators. This project is co-funded by Fopsim through the EU Collective Plays! Project, which is funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
B’Tal-Linja Jaqbillek Żgur will be touring the main squares in each respective village as follows: Kalkara on July 12; Birkirkara on July 13; Mellieħa on July 14; Siggiewi on July 15; and Żebbuġ, Gozo on July 16.