Summer’s rolled out, autumn’s stormed in – and it’s brought Malta’s theatre season along with it. Kicking it off for the MADC is David Hare’s 1995 play Skylight.
If, like me, you miss the prospect of a night at the theatre during the relatively quieter summer nights, you’ll want to make sure you kick off the season with a bang. Look no further: this play is it.
If you’re reading this on Sunday morning, you haven’t got much time. Entertain that niggling thought in your head that’s been urging you to pay a visit to the beautifully-refurbished Valletta Campus Theatre (formerly the MITP) and catch the last performance of this excellent production.
In the past year or so, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see the MADC make occasional attempts to step out of its role as the purveyor of outdated drawing room farces in favour of some more relevant pieces.
Equally, it’s wonderful to see a young director like André Agius make such a noteworthy debut under the company’s banner. Skylight is, by no means, a safe or easy choice for a first-time director, so well done to both Agius for rising to the challenge and to the MADC for trusting him to do so.
Skylight is by no means a safe or easy choice for a first-time director, so well done to Agius for rising
to the challenge
And, yes – although Skylight is a 22-year-old play, its themes and emotional conflicts are still very relevant to the world today. In fact, putting aside a couple of dated references and a stack of CDs, the story could very easily be transposed to 2017 and lose absolutely nothing. The play’s themes of privilege, infidelity and atonement are timeless, and resonated in a deeply personal way when I attended.
The play unfolds in Kyra Hollis’s shabby East London flat, where she’s visited unexpectedly by two figures from her past: Tom Sergeant, a wealthy restauranteur with whom she had a long affair, and Edward, his son. Playing school teacher Kyra, Simone Spiteri gives a powerful performance, warm and confident at times and vulnerable at others. The bulk of the play rests in the hands of Spiteri and Stephen Oliver, who brings his usual brand of prickly energy to the play as Tom.
Hare’s demanding script requires Spiteri and Oliver to shoulder the bulk of the performance, as their past relationship is put under a microscope. In a play which largely comprises of a back-and-forth between two people, it can be difficult for both the actors and the director to find the natural ebb and flow of the piece. However, I feel that Agius and his cast did a wonderful job. I found my sympathies yoyoing from one character to another as more layers of story were unravelled, examined and laid bare before us.
Bookending the show with a far gentler interaction is Teatru Manoel Youth Theatre’s (TMYT) Alex Weenink as Edward, a young man reaching out after a difficult year. Although Weenink struggled a bit to make some of the dialogue sound natural, he’s got a good presence and physicality on stage which made his Edward very likable, contrasting nicely with his more acerbic father, Tom.
The play’s brutal dissection of love, betrayal and dependence takes place entirely in Kyra’s squalid little apartment, lovingly and painstakingly designed by Tom Camilleri. It takes a lot of care to look that careworn. Skylight’s stage design goes above and beyond what I’ve come to expect from local productions, from the bric-a-brac strewn over shelves and cupboards to the evocative laundry line backdrop. It successfully places the audience squarely within the setting of the story from the very first moment.
Agius makes an excellent first foray into directing, supported by a strong cast and an MADC that might just be getting its groove back. Theatre like this deserves to be seen, so tick-tock, the booking office is only open so long.