B’Sogħba Kbira is a dark and quirky comedy from Maltese playwright Simon Bartolo which revolves around the Ciappara family, a family that is slightly more eccentric than one’s regular neighbours.

One of the sibling’s is unhealthily obsessed with animals, another is the source of every rumour in the street, and yet another fiddles neurotically with her rosary beads in fervent prayer. And then there’s the sibling who is obsessed with swords.

The only one constant in this charismatic yet peculiar family is that they hate each other’s guts.

When a sudden death takes the siblings by surprise, their antics are taken to a whole new level. Things heat up further when inheritance comes into play.

Following Bartolo’s massive success with Jiena Nħobb, Inti Tħobb, Ħabbilni Ħa Nirbaħ, Tikber u Tinsa and B’tal-Linja Jaqbillek Żgur, B’Sogħba Kbira pushes the audience to take each other with a pinch of salt and definitely less seriously, as director Roderick Vassallo explained.

Bartolo’s dialogues are written with such craft that Vassallo is expecting the audience to naturally burst into laughter. The work can be described as a farce but the director prefers to couch it in terms of an intelligent form of critique of the selfish condition of humans, all wrapped up in jokes and a good dose of sarcasm.

Produced by the Bakkanti Troupe, B’Sogħba Kbira features Gilbert Formosa, Alison Abela, Olivia-Ann Marmarà, David Scicluna Giusti, Louise Fenech and Mandy Mifsud.

■ The play is being staged in Maltese at 8.30pm at the Sagrestia Vault at the Valletta Waterfront. It is running over two weekends, from Friday, November 18 to Sunday, November 20 and again Friday, November 25 to Sunday, November 27. Tickets are available from www.activemalta.com.