Tomorrow
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Malta Chamber of Commerce, Valletta.
Entrance: €15
Among the many Shakespearian plays being organised this year to remember the Bard’s 400th death anniversary, none may be as unique as the one being held tomorrow at the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Valletta.
Please Continue (Hamlet) sees the audience participating directly in the performance, as patrons are randomly selected to form part of the jury in this criminal court trial setting, blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality.
The jury is presented with the elements of the case by the prosecuting and defence lawyers, played by real-life lawyers Andy Ellul and Franco Debono, respectively. Psychologist Chantal Avellino also takes part in the trial, outlining the results of her evaluation of the accused (Hamlet).
Presided over by real-life retired judge Michael Mallia, the jury will have to deliberate on the guilt or innocence of the accused.
Please, Continue (Hamlet) stimulates and provokes the civic sense in each spectator as it relates to the idea of justice and touches on the gap between their personal sense of justice and the state-defined one.
With Daniel Azzopardi in the role of Hamlet, Kim Dalli in the role of the tragic Ophelia and Marcelle Teuma in the role of Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, this three-and-a-half hour performance starts at 7.30pm. Tickets cost €15.
Shakespeare in music
Monday
Time: 9pm
Venue: Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta
Entrance: €15 and €20
This year’s Malta International Arts Festival comes to an end on Monday with a celebration of one of the world’s greatest poets and playwrights.
Taking inspiration from one of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays, Romeo and Juliet, the eternal love story is brought to life through music across the ages. Lush, powerful and poignant, jealousy, passion and fire can be felt through the pens of Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Bernstein, taking the listener on a journey from Juliet’s balcony to Bernstein’s Mambo.
Programme: Sergey Prokofiev, extracts from Romeo and Juliet ballet suites; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Romeo and Juliet – Fantasy Overture; Leonard Bernstein, symphonic dances from West Side Story.
The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra will be directed by Maltese conductor Michael Laus, now resident conductor of the orchestra.
The concert will take place at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta at 9pm. Tickets: €15 and €20.
More information about the festival and details about events as they are published can be obtained from www.maltaartsfestival.org.