A new play by author/director Mario Philip Azzopardi – Fl-Isem tal-Missier, u tal-Iben, u tal-Ispettur Bonnici – his fifth in eight years, will be staged at the Manoel Theatre on Saturday and next Sunday and on March 17, 18 and 19. The play is presented by Staġun Teatru Malti.
There is no guarantee that the law will deliver justice, and for justice to be delivered, one cannot depend blindly on the law. There are times when they clash, and when that happens, the outcome is never easy – at least, not in a society based on law and order.
For Inspector Salvu Bonnici this has been a career-long dilemma. He has had to face it many times in the 40 years he spent with the Police Force, most of them in Valletta. Now, a few months from his retirement, he comes face to face with the results of some shady decisions he had to make years earlier.
This will force him to answer some very difficult questions. His answers might cost him his good name, his pension and his family. And it all starts on his 62nd birthday, when a man wearing a dark coat, enters the Valletta police station, asking to see the inspector.
This is most probably the most difficult role in my career
His name is Gianni Spiteri, a man the inspector had incriminated and send to prison 30 years earlier and on this day, the very first day after his release, his first visit is the Valletta police station.
Mario Micallef plays the lead character: “This is most probably the most difficult role in my career. It’s a roller coaster of emotions. The Inspector is constantly being hammered by conflicting choices which, very soon, are planted squarely in the audience’s lap. Is this man mad? Is he corrupt, or is he the most principled policeman around, plagued by flaws and doubts, and obsessive guilt?”
The part of Chris, the Inspector’s son, is played by Vince Micallef Pulé. “This is a very different role from the one I played in Azzopardi’s last production Irbaħt il-Lottu. That was farce. The play starts off at a leisurely pace but soon acquires a momentum that rises into a deeply felt emotional climax that won’t be forgotten that easily.”
Monica Attard, one of Malta’s most respected actresses, plays Karmen, the Inspector’s wife. “When Mario called to tell me that he was offering me a part in his new play that included a two-page monologue, I hesitated. Then I received the script and was convinced. Karmen is a complex character.
“Elderly Maltese mothers in the audience will under-stand her and empathise with her. Mores and traditions have changed at a rapid pace and what was normal in her youth is unthinkable today, and vice versa.
“The erosion of family values as understood by her generation took a heavy toll on her peace of mind and general wellbeing but she withstood it all with dignity and class, until the day that Gianni Spiteri enters that police station. Once he arrives the lives of all the family members change forever.”
Booking is open at the Manoel Theatre booking office or online at http://teatrumanoel.com.mt or by calling 2124 6389.