Name: Clive Piscopo
Age: 28
Occupation: Actor, writer and teacher
My best ever trip…
Each trip, each country and the people accompanying me on my travels have made each experience unique
My answer might sound like a cliché but it’s true: it’s terribly difficult for me to decide which trip was the best. It’s like having a fleet of different sports cars and asking me which I prefer. And can I really choose between the musicals I’ve watched in London over working with tutors of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon or the sheer beauty of Madonna di Campiglio and Limone in northern Italy?
The answer is definitely no. Each trip, each country and the people accompanying me on my travels have made each experience unique and memorable in its own unparalleled way.
I felt so welcome in…
France. This was actually a school trip in 2008 with my students as part of an e-twinning project.
Along with two other colleagues, I was staying in Bagnols-sur-Cèze in the south of France, where we also staged a performance in French and Maltese, thus making it the first ever performance in Maltese in that area.
Nicolas, Claire and Natalie – the French teachers who took care of us – showed us around the beauty of Avignon, introduced us to their local wine and traditional way of raising glasses (look in the eyes of the other person, smile as if you’re making a toothpaste advert and lose your eyebrows in your hair!) and made our trip one to never forget.
Taking care of a highly energetic group of students in a foreign country is no mean joke but their tremendous welcome and sheer hospitality refreshes mental postcards of the trip to this day: the glorious blue sky over Pont du Gard, the rich history of Pont Saint Esprit, the hysterical laughter as drove back home with wine vines stretching to the horizon... bliss.
I couldn’t wait to leave…
Luton Airport. I was stuck there for more than 13 hours. Apart from finishing a whole book out of boredom (Covering McKellen: An Understudy’s Tale), I think I learnt all the shelf labels of the very few shops which were open on the day... as well as the airport announcements. Very, very boring.
An amusing anecdote…
Today I find it amusing. I’m not sure I kept my cool when it happened. It was my first time abroad. I was completely on my own in London and it was around midnight when I caught the tube after visiting an old friend in Brixton, which is not the safest of London areas.
I was all alone on the train. A totally empty compartment. I didn’t mind this… Well, not until a drunken giant of a man stumbled onto the train as well. Yelling some really creative swear words and possibly outrunning even Scarface when it comes to the use of the F word, I wondered whether I should clutch my bag (full of a whole day’s worth of research) and hop off at the next station.
That was until the drunken man suddenly stopped and crashed down on the floor in what I think must have been a much needed sleep. I didn’t know what to do. I was already imagining the newspaper headlines the day after blaring: Maltese man injures a man on a train…
I wish I could live in…
New Zealand! Peter Jackson’s latest Middle-Earth installment, the first of a trilogy based on The Hobbit, has only painfully reminded me what a huge and avid fan I am of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and of Jackson’s film adaptations.
The spectacular New Zealand landscape is the closest I can get to the mythical land of fantasy and magic in Lord of the Rings, which enthralled my wildest imagination in my late teens when I was meant to be studying
The spectacular New Zealand landscape is the closest I can get to this mythical land of fantasy and magic, which enthralled my wildest imagination in my late teens when I was meant to be studying. If I had to choose somewhere closer to Malta, then I would choose to live in either an Italian village the likes of Limone and Madonna di Campiglio or the Tuscan area.
To those who do not know me, this often strikes them as a very odd choice – especially since I tend to swing from the madness of theatre rehearsals to the rush of hectic filming routines in my daily life.
However, the images of cobbled streets, quaint village houses with colourful flowers in their balconies and a simple village life are, I feel, where I truly belong. I must truly be a Hobbit at heart!
I treasure the memory of…
I have to cheat here. I can never forget meeting eminent Shakespearean scholar Prof. Stanley Welles while in Stratford… Working closely with tutors of the Royal Shakespeare Company, watching their performances at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and then off for midnight walks along the river Avon, watching The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables at the West End with Karl and Noel (two of my closest friends with whom I’ve laughed so much I’m still surprised we weren’t arrested), quality time with my parents and siblings in Italy…
I adored the food in…
Italy and Sicily. My favourite food is all the kinds of pasta that exist under the sun. I was obviously in paradise there.
I enjoy returning to…
Stratford-upon-Avon! I fell in love with this 800-year-old market town at first sight. I went to Stratford for the very first time in 2009 after I was awarded the Shakespeare in Stratford Scholarship by the ESU (English Speaking Union). And I’ve been there again twice. In this small town, almost lost in time due to its deep connection to all things Shakespeare, I do not only find an artistic refuge and a meaningful hub of actors, directors and tutors who recharge my batteries before more work in Malta, but also enjoy some quiet me time which I rarely have in Malta.
Whether I’m writing in an outdoor cafeteria on Henley Street armed with a mug of steaming English tea or going through the book shops or strolling in the drizzling rain or taking up a group of students or revisiting some of my tutors, Stratford has become a yearly habit.
The hardest part of travelling is…
Packing and getting there. I hate the flight itself. I wish I could just drop asleep like most passengers.
Travel has taught me to…
Never assume and just be open to new, unexpected experiences. When I first was on my way to Stratford, I was wary of joining an international group of teachers I had never met before.
This experience ended up being one of my most treasured experiences ever. The strong bond of unity we shared during the study course is still cherished to this day. Even though we keep frequent contact on Facebook, the dream is to have a reunion in Stratford in the future. Some friendships never die.
Clive is currently scripting Anġli: Kapitlu Ġdid (TVM) as well as playing the controversial enigmatic villian Musa in the series. He has just directed the award-winning play It-Tfajjel ta’ fuq il-Bandla by Andre Mangion, which placed first in the Social Theatre Contest, and is gearing up to start rehearsals for L-Indemonjati, his ninth performance at the Manoel Theatre next February.