Theatre
Plautus Strait
Splendid, Valletta

When a play based on Plautus’s classical, bawdy comedies is also reminiscent of the manner in which the remnants of Plautus’s work was preserved – in palimpsestic form, then it begins to transcend it’s canonical placing and moves towards a more postmodern vision of drama.

George Peresso’s take on this concept was explored in Plautus Strait, a production by Bakkanti Troupe at Splendid, the brothel reclaimed for the arts, in Strait Street and supported by the Malta Arts Fund.

The concept, cogently directed by Keith Borg, worked on the triple layer of characterisation and plot which started off with Plautus’s lines recited in modern dress and set to an adaptation of his work, which was quickly revealed to be a play within a play.

What made this piece work very well was the ease of dialogue

Borg had to direct Lilian Pace playing Bianca – herself the director in the play, as she tries to deal with her troupe of amateur actors who all brought their own personal lives into the rehearsal space.

This layer bore most of the story in terms of the exploration of relationships and saw Bianca grappling with shoddy props, forgotten lines, diva attitudes, power cuts, missed cues and deliberate upstaging.

Taking out her frustrations on the poor, rather lost Maria, played by Louise Fenech, Pace gave a good performance as the irritable Bianca, picking on her assistant and making herself quite a difficult person to deal with.

Her motley cast comprised David Scicluna Gauci and Mandy Mifsud, playing Il-Viċi and Nightingale in the Plautus version of the piece, but as actors, they’re more interested in exploring the subtle tension between each other, while coming across as the most down-to-earth of the fictional cast and reflecting the qualities of the characters which they play.

Gilbert Formosa’s Duminku, the barman, and Olivia-Ann Marmarà’s Nopia, one of the two Greek maids who are meant to act as chorus in the Plautus version, are interested in each other as actors drawn close thanks to the performance they are taking part in.

Their intimacy may well be the beginning of something deeper than just a fleeting connection and they are in direct opposition to Aldo Zammit’s easy-going Pawlinu and his difficult relationship with Alison Abela’s Luksurja. The latter’s biting comments and sarcastic take on everybody else’s business is challenged by the ‘chillaxed’ attitude taken by Zammit.

Authorial interference on the part of Peresso reminded the audience that the ultimate puppeteer is always in control of his characters; although it could be argued that his director’s choices influence the outcome to as large an extent as the script itself. What made this piece work very well was the ease of dialogue and solid flow with clear processes as to how the postmodern self-reflexivity of the palimpsestic play could be achieved.

With a cast whose strong dynamic helped ease the difficulties presented by a multi-layered performance, the driving force behind this experimental piece was the expository nature of the script as a text which is aware of its nature as a fictionalised drama.

Certainly a must-see performance.

• Plautus Strait is also being staged at Splendid on Saturday and Sunday at 8pm.