Theatre
Salomé
St James Cavalier

For a decadent dandy like Oscar Wilde to tackle a serious biblical theme in a play is already an interesting subject choice; but when the brimming sexual undertones which spill out to interlink the rest of the piece’s themes are taken into consideration, then one can begin to understand why this particular story fascinated him.

Talenti Theatre Company put up a Maltese version of Wilde’s popular Salomé, which is an exploration of the female as an object of desire and near- fiendish sexual depravity.

With a very faithful translation by Alfred Palma, under the direction of Mario Micallef, the events leading up to the beheading of St John the Baptist were played out in a manner which was sensitive to the characters’ motives and human flaws.

Larissa Bonaci has grown into an accomplished actress over the past few years and tackled her role maturely

The concept of looking and voyeurism and the spectacle of the body immediately filters through in Herod and Herodias’s conversation at the start of the performance, following an introduction to the dramatis personae by the echoing voice of the imprisoned Jokanaan – St John the Baptist.

Alan Fenech gave a very convincing performance as Jokanaan and was also visually fitting. His position as a prophet-observer, trapped in a deep well-like cell gives him an ironically heightened position as moral observer of the debauched ways and power-hungry scheming of Herod’s court.

The scene in which Jokanaan is taunted and tempted by Salomé was, thanks to Joe Brincat’s lighting, simply yet effectively executed – a circular, barred grid oflight was projected on to Fenech as he responded to Salomé’s sexual intimations with warnings to repent.

Micallef, who also played Herod, made some good staging decisions and used the intimate space of the theatre at St James Cavalier to his advantage. He was helped in no smally way by Michelle Zerafa’s choreography in the hedonistic scene where Salomé, played by a sultry Larissa Bonaci in top form, dances the dance of the seven veils for the lascivious Herod. Bonaci has grown into an accomplished actress over the past few years and tackled her role maturely.

Spurred on by her power-hungry and manipulative mother, Herodias, played by Nathalie Micallef, Salomé asks her step-father Herod, who promises her anything she wants, for the one thing that Herodias wants more than anything – Jokanaan’s head on a silver platter.

Herod’s incestuous lust for the young but dangerous Salomé emphasises the notion of physical lust first started by Salomé for Jokanaan. It comes full circle when Salomé performs several acts of depravity to Jokanaan’s severed head, intimating kissing and oral sex.

Micallef’s Herodias struck the right balance between subtle manipulator and wicked queen, who egged her husband on and berated him for not being man enough to kill Jokanaan earlier.

Beauty, opulence and decay are dealt with by Wilde in this particular play through the prophet’s cautionary visions and Herod’s own reliance on omens and the image of the moon as a symbol of the feminine, angered by the blasphemous acts taking place in the palace.

The clash of civilisations, cultures, religious affiliations and how they affect the human condition is highlighted in Salomé, Wilde’s most serious work for the stage, and certainly one to which Talenti’s production did justice.