From cutting edge art installations to a collaborative dance premiere, from popular concerts to the high drama of opera and from jazz and gospel music to socially-inspired projects, Pjazza Teatru Rjal (PTR) will host a vibrant and eclectic calendar of events this spring.
Micronation Series, a Malta Design Week Satellite Project by Norbert Francis Attard runs between May 17 and 24, while Talent Unmasked: A Night of Creation, a performance by Aġenzija Sapport will be held on May 23.
On May 30, the theatre is expecting a full house for an Evening with Ira Losco & Friends. The month closes off with a concert by the Royal Marines Association on May 31.
June will open on a high note, with the opera La Traviata being held between June7 and 8. Kiss the Sky, a site-specific sculpture by Vince Briffa, will run between June 4 and July 16, while the Malta Police Band will hold a concert on June 28. Pjazza Teatru Rjal is also one of the two main venues for the staging of this year’s edition of the Malta Arts Festival.
A magnificent chandelier suspended on one of the plinths of the arts space – an installation by Pierre Portelli – is also set to catch the attention of the public walking through City Gate, turning random passersby into an audience.
Situated at the entrance of the capital city and a Unesco world-heritage site, Pjazza Teatru Rjal has always been much more than the stones from which it is made. Flanked by St Catherine’s church and the church of Our Lady of Victory, its underground spaces and passages run beneath the capital, a part of the city’s cultural, artistic and social fabric.
Originally built by Edward Middleton Barry in 1866, in 1873 its interior was extensively damaged by a fire and was restored by 1877. In 1942 the theatre received a direct hit through aerial bombing, with loss of life. As the years passed, controversy raged on its rebuilding; meanwhile, the ruins lay idle, a wartime scar in a changing city.
Recently restored by Italian architect Renzo Piano, it is now the main open-air theatre in Malta and offers important backstage facilities like a stage manager’s desk, changing rooms and showers. Fully accessible for disabled people, both actors and audience, it also boasts a state-of-the-art audio system.