As a young teenager, I was fascinated by star signs and their significance. To me, it was nothing short of intriguing to think that somehow I would be able to read people better thanks to the day, week and month on which they were born.

In many ways, it also helped alleviate the sometimes heavy responsibility of decision-making; after all, if fate and the stars had already decided things for me, who was I to stand in their way? I was particularly struck by the Libra star sign because of what it represented to me. Balance was and still is something of an Achilles’ heel with me; I sometimes wonder whether achieving it will always be just slightly beyond my grasp.

True to its name, Teatru Santwarju’s Lib(r)a, directed by Martina Georgina, is a dynamic search for a balance in those characteristics which are just beyond the fringe of consciousness Set against a stark backdrop with nothing but a metal frame surmounted by a female torso acting as prop, Lib(r)a told the compelling dynamic of three contradicting personified characteristics, sharing both their birth and their innermost feelings as one.

From the very beginning, the audience was plunged into a vortex of reflection as, one by one, the three performers – Julia Camilleri, Althea Corlett and the director herself – were birthed onto the stage. Confused and befuddled by the new reality each found herself in, they wriggled and jumped around blindly while gaining more confidence in their surroundings. Ironically, but inevitably in an upturned mirror of life, despite the fact that they all entered the world in the same way their different characters quickly emerged as they struggled with the realities which they were faced with in three very different ways.

From the very beginning, the audience was plunged into a vortex of reflection

Starting from its very name, Lib(r)a was nothing if not a challenging and multi-layered piece. Yet despite these various mille-feuille layers, one could not exist without the other. The title itself, female and maternal in substance, was chosen by Martina after she came across it in an old Maltese dictionary which belonged to her grandfather. Although the term now holds distinctly male connotations, in the past it was used to describe a mother’s first milk. This return to the root of things was very much characteristic of the whole production which was entirely female dominated both materially as well as spiritually.

The production was characterised by its use of movement, at times fluid, at other abrupt. The simplicity of the set, the uniform costumes and Mario Sammut’s quasi-magical sound, served as a foil for the three characters’ development from entwined trio to independent individual entities. The use of the apple, a universally recognised symbol intimately associated with femininity, was an interesting, if obvious catalyst: the fruit was used sensuously to depict truth and wisdom, with the apples in Lib(r)a truly bringing out the very different characters of the three performers who can be identified as ‘The Temptress’, ‘The Soother’ and ‘The Over Thinker’.

Interestingly, though the three characters could not have been more different than each other, their interdependence was subtly highlighted: they are not isolated but mere facets of the same female condition. As they ducked, dived and danced in unison, it became apparent that while they made interesting case studies as individuals, their true power lay in their synchronised whole. While each character seemed fiercely vulnerable seen by herself and appeared to antagonise and contradict the other on the outside, combined there was a balance, harmony and strength.

While not immediately obvious or literal, Lib(r)a provides much food for thought and contemplation; it is both interesting as well as rewarding to see that many performers are choosing to move away from the safe and obvious into the realms of the conscious sublime. Another intense production by Teatru Santwarju.