Theatre
ŻiguŻajg Arts Festival
St James Cavalier/MCC

With the onslaught of technology threatening to take over our free time and sense of concreteness in the world, especially if allowed to mesmerise young children who have free unchecked access, it was very encouraging to see the arts coming to the rescue.

Using traditional forms of theatre, three very different performances for young audiences were very well attended and received at the ŻiguŻajg Arts Festival.

Nanzi, a Maltese production, took traditional African stories about Ananse the Spider God – a trickster who gets by in the world using his wit and words rather than his size – and transformed them into a selection of stories which a young refugee girl, Salima (Naomi Said), tells herself as she tries to remember the way her mother, whom she seems to have lost, used to calm her with traditional stories when they still were safe at home. It is clearly a subtle but clever way of raising awareness among children of the terrible plight that others like them face daily when escaping conflict and of how finding solace in the simplest of things can sometimes be of great comfort to us.

Thus Chantelle Micallef Grimaud’s calming voice sooths Salima on the rickety boat and reminds her to think of Ananse and how he used to get out of scrapes. This inner voice of Salima’s then doubles as the various animals that Ananse meets in the stories.

From a snake, a mouse and a crab, Micallef Grimaud’s use of puppets to tell the story was very effective and well-received, as was Sean Briffa’s similar contribution as the tiger, lion and cat – all antagonists who Ananse the spider outwits. Said’s Salima imagines herself into the Ananse character and thus gains strength from the Spider’s guile and cleverness.

Izaksun Fernández in A Mano, a touching story about love, small failures and four hands at play.

While the use of puppetry and masks was effective and fun for the young audience, the manner in which Michael Fenech’s direction told two very different stories which were woven into each other was clever and effective because of the manner in which a current concern is explained to young children using cross-cultural references.

Said’s earnest Salima and cheeky Ananse were fun and very engaging to watch, while Micallef Grimaud perfected the art of the storyteller’s voice and had a soothing effect on the audience too.

A second Maltese production by the Drama Unit, Il-Volpi, directed by Dominic Said, was based on the retelling of Aesop’s fables in Maltese to a very enthusiastic audience and featured some great costumes designed by Romualdo Moretti and made by Marthese Briffa, with masks constructed by Charles Bezzina and light design by Chris Gatt.

The play featured Marcelle Teuma as the Fox and Said as the old narrator, with Philip Stilon playing incensed old men and farmers whose livestock and produce are robbed by the Fox. Valerie Blow and Amanda Spiteri Grech played the various animals thwarted by the crafty Fox. The stage became a bit of a cacophony of animal sounds, chases and panto-like “he’s behind you!” chants whenever the Fox turned up.

Aimed at lower primary school children, I found the production to be rather too patronising and over the top in terms of the way in which the children in the audience were addressed. With overdramatic voices and gestures which exaggerated the manner in which the animal stories developed, it pandered to the wrong idea that children must be entertained with bright colours and loud noises – which I personally disagree with.

There was simply too much energy and no nuances – which children are perfectly capable of taking on board.

In contrast, a completely silent script, save for background music, was the basis of a truly fascinating production from Spain, which was personally my favourite.

A Mano (By Hand) was the brainchild of El Patio Teatro which saw artists Julián Sáenz-López, Izaksun Fernández and Diego Solloa bring clay figures to life in a simple, heart-warming and endearing story of a little clay-headed man, whose body was formed out of the hands of the performers. It was a tour de force of physical theatre for the hands – a gesticular ballet on a tiny stage on which the spotlight focused all the action in an otherwise blacked-out theatre.

While mesmerising the very young audience with a story of birth, childhood, loneliness and love, the little clay protagonist and the other figures he encountered on his journey to be bought and loved as an ornament in a closing down sale, was clever and rich in its simplicity, combining puppetry with dexterity and inventiveness to create a top-quality and highly entertaining piece which was stimulating and gave cause for reflection. It elicited innocent, spontaneous comments from the children in the audience and kept the adults equally caught up in its effective storytelling.

With a range of stories and messages for children young and old, ŻiguŻajg has as always confirmed its importance as a gateway for children to appreciate the performing arts and learn that a fantasy world created away from digital technology is not only possible but optimal.