Theatre
Fl-Isem tal-Missier u ta’ L-Iben u ta’ L-Ispettur Bonnici
Manoel Theatre

When considering common societal dilemmas and the consequences of our actions, it is sometimes useful to attempt to ground the analysis within local, identifiable contexts; and this is what Staġun Teatru Malti (STM) has done at the Manoel Theatre in their new play.

With a set designed by Antoine Farrugia and lighting under Marvic Vella, this season’s fare by STM focuses on a script which is both plot and character driven.

Written and directed by Mario Philip Azzopardi, Fl-Isem tal-Missier u ta’ L-Iben u ta’ L-Ispettur Bonnici focuses on the thoughts and actions of a senior Maltese police officer whose occasionally dubious methods have excellent results and whose decisions are always driven by the desire to do what is right.  It therefore becomes a contemporary morality play in which his career, which he can never escape from, becomes completely entwined with his personal life – especially when we begin to notice the flaws which such an apparently strong character as Mario Micallef’s Inspector Bonnici is actually built on.

Fl-Isem tal-Missier u ta’ L-Iben u ta’ L-Ispettur Bonnici is a step in the right direction for STM, given a more nuanced and tighter script, which tackles social issues without sensationalising them

Writer-director Azzopardi crafted the major characters as quite complex individuals who feed off each other and whose emotional attachments and interferences drive the plot forward. The inspector’s relationship with his wife Karmen (Monica Attard) and his brother, Anton (Renato Grech), place him in a position of responsibility and benevolent control but this belies an underlying loss of control, both over his wits and over the way in which his life unfolds – with an old enemy threatening revenge by taking advantage of the tension in his relationships with different members of his family.

The inspector, like his brother, is prone to hearing voices, but to avoid being sectioned like Anton, he hides it well and blocks it out – but his conversations with the visions of his opinionated, deceased teenage son, Louis (Jurgen Ciantar), expose his dilemma about his inability to keep his emotional detachment from his cases.

Bearing false witness to send a known criminal to prison, the inspector is now haunted by a very real spectre of a paroled Gianni (Silvio Axisa), whose menacing remarks lead the inspector to a crisis in the clash between his working life and his family.

A strained relationship with his émigré son Chris (Vince Pulé), back from Canada with his children, Katie (Larissa Bonaci) and Peter (Vladislav Ilich), as well as a difficult one with his daughter Grace (Laura Bruno), the family is set to celebrate the inspector’s birthday, but the veneer of calm respectability soon wears off when the police work unravels lies and family loyalty is challenged by the inspector’s sense of greater moral good.

I particularly enjoyed Micallef’s interactions with his sergeant, played sensitively by Charles Sammut, as well as Attard’s scenes as Karmen, where, as the matriarch of a dysfunctional family, she tries to keep the peace. These three characters gave the performance the most depth, with secondary characters like Nina (Marceline Galea) and Twanny (Sean Briffa) providing both pathos and comic relief as a mismatched couple where domestic abuse goes both ways, while highlighting its severity.

Fl-Isem tal-Missier u ta’ L-Iben u ta’ L-Ispettur Bonnici is a step in the right direction for STM, given a more nuanced and tighter script, which tackles social issues without sensationalising them. It makes use of rather safe, tried and tested theatre techniques like breaking the fourth wall on occasion but does not suffer for it.

It made for a pleasant evening out and easy viewing.

■ Fl-Isem tal-Missier u ta’ L-Iben u ta’ L-Ispettur Bonnici is being staged at the Manoel Theatre on Friday and Saturday at 8pm and on Sunday at 3pm and 7pm.