A number of Alfred Sant plays that were written in the 1970s are being republished after more than 20 years in a new edition of Qabel Tiftaħ l-Inkjesta u Drammi oħra. The new edition carries an introduction by Marco Galea, who traces the development of Sant’s drama from the 1960s to the present.
The book opens with the title play Qabel Tiftaħ l-Inkjesta, one of Sant’s most political plays that has also been performed at the Manoel Theatre. Political intrigue is the central theme of this play.
In this work Sant includes elements of detective fiction to examine the mystery surrounding the suicide of a political figure who heads a deeply divided party.
Both Sant’s choice of subjects and the manner in which he treats them dramatically are still extremely relevant to our concerns in the first decades of the 21st century.
Alfred Sant, who has always been at the heart of political controversy, deals with a number of themes in the other four plays, including sexual conflict, boulevard theatre with its formal dialogue, the blending together of reality and fantasy and repetitive thinking on the past.
Unfortunately, these works have all but been forgotten and hardly any reference is made to them. Even drama troupes seem to have struck them of their repertory. Sant also employs absurd elements, for example, a character that splits into two persons, each examining the other.
Although Sant’s theatre works consciously deal with social and political motifs, at their core they are not plays of ideas but remain deeply rooted within the dynamics of human relationships. His plays do remain ideological in nature. For example, the play It-Tfal ta’ Nikol Grixti (Nikol Grixti’s Children) is set around the closure of the British naval base in 1979 and is intent on affirming a renewed Maltese identity.
Sant’s career as a playwright knows its beginnings to plays for radio and television. It was the time of the Moviment Qawmien Letterarju (1966-1972) when emerging authors started experimenting with new styles of artistic expression, both in literature and drama, which contrasted sharply with established conventions. At the time Sant lived and worked abroad so, perhaps, he was the most attuned to the latest trends in European drama.
A discussion with the theme The Dramatist in Alfred Sant is being held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, on November 6 at 6.30pm as part of the National Book Festival.