The third edition of the Malta International Theatre Festival features theatre companies from five countries and will be treating theatre lovers to a real bonanza with a programme of diverse workshops and performances.
The Malta International Theatre Festival was launched in 2014 to commemorate the 20th anniversary (1994-2014) since the official establishment of the Malta Drama Centre as the national performing arts school under the Department of Education.
Following the first edition, the MDC School Council decided to hold the festival biennially, alternating with a Youth Theatre Festival, which took place for the first time in 2015. However, the growing success of the festival led the committee to hold it on yearly basis.
The aim of the festival is to present, by way of a variety of plays, performances and subsequent critical analyses, colloquies and workshops, a global picture of the diverse trends in theatre and to encourage encounters between theatre practitioners.
Alan Fenech, director of the festival, said that since the first edition, the event has grown both in content and in reputation, with the festival committee being spoilt for choice both when it came to selecting the local participants as well as the foreign theatre troupes.
“The festival also includes a number of workshops and discussions which in themselves are a means of sharing the different theatrical traditions and practices,” he said.
He added that the festival also helps local talent go overseas with two participating groups from last year’s edition having been invited abroad to other festivals.
This year’s edition will include participants from Malta, Algeria, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Japan and Kosovo. There will be three different performances every night at Fort St Angelo while workshops will be held at the Malta Drama Centre in Ħamrun.
The festival is held in collaboration with Arts Council Malta and the Mikiel Anton Vassalli College within the Ministry of Education.
The Malta International Theatre Festival starts today and runs until Sunday. For more information, visit www.mitfestival.com. For tickets, call 2122 0665, 7991 8578 or log on to www.showshappening.com/Malta-Drama-Centre/Malta-International-Theatre-Festival-2017.