Theatre
Nuove Cosmogonie Teatro
Couvre Porte, Vittoriosa

The danger of staging a monologue is that one is equally likely to lose one’s audience as one is to pull it off successfully.

I am very glad to say that Pino Scicluna’s monologue held at the Couvre Porte in Vittoriosa last week was more than successful at keeping his audience engaged from start to finish.

Conceived and written by Scicluna himself and co-directed by Katia Capato of the Nuove Cosmogonie Teatro – of which she and Scicluna are co-founders – Gwerra, Familti u Ommi (War, My Family and My Mother) was a 90-minute tour de force of one man’s desire to capture the terrifying and banal essence of war, its futility and its destruction.

Scicluna honoured his late uncle, Captain Aldo Zanini, who served in World War II, but while recounting his story, the stories of others – friends, neighbours, fellow soldiers – emerged as strongly, creating a strong central core to his narrative.

Certainly, the entire piece was an anthem against militarism, while attempting to understand how his uncle was “both family and foe” during the war, given that Scicluna’s mother was an Italian married to a Maltese.

What I felt was lacking from the otherwise well-conceived script was a greater focus on the importance that the performer’s mother had in Scicluna’s conceptualisation of the narrative, especially since she features prominently in the title.

Somehow she emerged as a loving character but was overshadowed by the narrative surrounding her brother – who is represented both as a young man in the Italian army and as a gruff, old uncle who recounts his war stories to his young nephew on the bus.

The tone of the piece took on a Helleresque shade with Scicluna taking on different roles, depending on the accessory he donned, while poking fun at the military manoeuvres and orders.

He also pokes fun at the way an ‘us and them’ mentality creates rifts between communities and people who were once friends and neighbours.

He eloquently shows how the war was not just fought at the front lines. It was fought on the home front as well – between disillusioned soldiers, pro-war political parties, communists, deserters, pacifists and elders who felt ashamed of their sons’ attitude or despondency.

Certainly, the entire piece was an anthem against militarism

The piece spoke of lives cut short, not necessarily by death but by experience – an experience which has, on all counts, shown just how upsetting and unsettling a war can be, not just on the understandably violent trenches, but on the human lives which are forced to deal with its consequences long after their survival on the battlefield is guaranteed.

The nuanced character changes, and sometimes direct address to the audience on Scicluna’s part, kept the pace of the piece strong and gripping, thanks also to his admirable clarity. His use of Maltese intermingled with Italian and a smattering of English made the experience much more realistic; many are familiar with this cultural element – the language question and our bilingual heritage.

It was a testament to Scicluna’s energy and belief in his script that the stifling heat, combined with his very dynamic blocking and thick military garb, did not prevent him from doing his performance justice.

Gwerra, Familti u Ommi made for very good theatre because it focused on one man’s experience and extended it to encompass many other minor but significant characters that enhanced the audience’s understanding and appreciation of the piece and its significance to the contemporary situation.