Simone Spiteri, with her Dù Theatre project, has become one of the most adventurous practitioners in Maltese theatre. Her experiments started from the company’s early days 10 years ago, and in her newest venture, Forget-Me-Not, she has ventured much more than she has done so far.

In this hour-long, one-act play, the concept and structure of which are hers, she has managed to cut down dialogue to a minimum with the aid of members of her cast.

The emphasis is on choreographed movements for two of the main characters, both trained dancers; on music and song; and on the mesmerising presence of a row of metal and glass screens that light up or off beautifully. These are the main icons for the play’s main theme, that of the way memory fascinates us and often determines the way we lead our lives.

The acting area, designed by Pierre Portelli, has a large, deep foreground representing the actual life being experienced by Danny (Yosef Farrugia) and his girlfriend (Elise Ellul).

It is backed at some distance by the line of screens I have mentioned; some of these are doors, one is able to slide up, and all of them can light up or switch off. These represent the bank of memories belonging to Danny, but on special occasions they enable us to see Danny in a bus with other passengers, where he makes fleeting encounters.

One of these will set him off on his feverish search for memories of his early life. On this occasion, his glimpse of a woman in profile makes him yearn to clarify his memory of his childhood, together with his young mother (Simone Spiteri).

This is where he meets an important character, the exotic Memory Keeper (Magdalena van Kuilenberg), who can provide Danny with access to his memories, and who is also a puppeteer who can manipulate those memories so as to influence his reactions.

Spiteri’s very visual production relies heavily on images that flash on and off

The Memory Keeper can provide Danny with forget-me-nots which, when eaten, trigger off a memory. In return, Danny must give her one of the very prized marbles his mother gave him long ago.

Danny’s obsession with his memories of his mother leads to a weakening of his relationship with his girlfriend. But, despite the Memory Keeper’s warning about the possibility of unearthing unpleasant memories, he persists in exploring his past memories even more, until he discovers a very unpleasant truth about his mother.

This leads to a violent breaking up with his girlfriend and to the collapse of his lifestyle. It also leads to his decision to dismiss the Memory Keeper, and it is when he is seemingly in the depths of despair that he achieves salvation.

He now experiences seeing his mother no longer as a dim figure in his memory but as the real loving person he once knew.

And when she gets him to sing with her his favourite lullaby, he is made to realise he is no longer that child but an adult with his own life to live, no longer in bondage to what he experienced early in life.

A final scene hints at a complete farewell to his mother and at a possible rapprochement with his girlfriend.

Spiteri’s very visual production relies heavily on images that flash on and off; on music sung in key scenes; on the fantastical figure of the Memory Keeper, a strangely garbed figure who speaks different languages and takes a mischievous delight in observing the drastic influence of the memories Danny has bravely, and also rashly, explored.

Van Kuilenberg has, from the start, been a mainstay of Dù Theatre. Here, her semi-grotesque style provides a key symbol for the capriciousness and hidden dangers of memory recall.

Since there is minimal use of speech, the play requires close attention to the frequent flow of images. I myself found it difficult to comprehend the way in which Danny began to free himself from the grip of the Memory Keeper. I also found one or two of the videos flashed on the screens too brief.

On the other hand, the image of Spiteri’s beautiful Mother was striking. Her appearance towards the end of the play not as an image on a screen but physically present is a dramatic relief to the audience, as it is for Danny.

Farrugia and Ellul mime and dance eloquently, causing the audience to empathise with them fully. Had these characters been made to connect through dialogue, rather than dance, the largely visual language chosen by Spiteri would have been compromised.

Forget-Me-Not runs tonight at the MITP, Valletta.

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