The performing arts community deems the stage flooring of the new open-air theatre in Valletta to be “totally unsuitable”.
The Association of Performing Arts Practitioners said the flooring, which has just been installed, could not be used for certain dance shows and plays because the surface was not sprung for dancers and not safe for actors wearing heels.
It added that, according to the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation, responsible for the building of the stage, the present deck is not the finished product. For theatrical performances, the stage will be equipped with a “proper dance carpet”, which the corporation did not elaborate on.
“The flooring would have to be covered with a high-quality professional dance carpet for dance performances due to the uneven surface and the consequent high risk of injury. It cannot just be any lino carpet,” APAP dance representative, Emma Loftus, said.
APAP theatre representative Pia Zammit added that it was unsafe for actors to walk in heels on the current decked-flooring and that a dance carpet would still not solve the problem.
The association said it had not yet received any communication from the authorities as to what steps were being taken about the unusually high maintenance programme once the theatre was completed as well as the theatre’s budget.
A question mark hangs over who the artistic director was, what artistic direction the theatre would be adopting, what the costs of hiring the space to producers would amount to and who would foot the bill in the event that a production was cancelled due to bad weather, APAP said.
The idea of having a roofless theatre on the site of the old opera house has been mired in controversy ever since its inception.
Back in 2010, a petition signed by 128 artistes, directors and theatre crew was submitted to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, urging him to rethink the building of the open-air theatre and expressing disappointment at the lack of consultation.
“Once again, it seems that work in this new theatre has gone ahead without any consultation whatsoever with the end users, rendering this space even less useful or, rather, even more useless,” APAP said.
Its president, Edward Mercieca, said that he was hoping that the current set-up was a stopgap solution that would be rectified into something that could be used 365 days a year.
“We desperately need a proper state-of-the-art 21st century theatre. Malta deserves it. We’re on the doorstep of 2018 and we still have no theatre which is fully equipped – in every single way.
“We lack a theatre with proper lights and flooring, a theatre which can handle large sets, which can be easily moved and which is equipped with a full hydraulics system to smoothly move sets from the back to the front of the stage.
“It would have been better had they stuck to the original plan of turning the space into a piazza, as opposed to having a theatre that cannot be used if it’s raining, windy or cold.”
According to cultural manager Toni Attard, the initial fault lay in the fact that the people who would be making use of the theatre were never identified or consulted.
“There were difficulties in identifying the client in this project and we are now seeing the repercussions of unfortunate decisions.”