Although he is one of Malta’s most influential and respected living playwrights, Alfred Buttigieg has only written four scripts in 31 years. Now, as his plays are translated into English for the first time, Iggy Fenech sits down with the author to unravel the journey that has brought him here.
It’s hard to not use the word ‘controversial’ when describing Alfred Buttigieg and his work. From his Dik il-Qtajra booklet, which, in 1983, caused uproar through its anthropomorphism of a foetus who speaks of jealousy, death and religion, to his politically-charged first play, Ir-Rewwixxta tal-Qassisin, which has gone on to become one of the most widely-read Maltese works, Alfred has been a maverick from the very beginning.
Yet, as someone who has known Alfred for a few years now, I truly believe that the word ‘controversial’ simply glazes over the true intent of the playwright, who is rebellious yet calculating, free-spirited yet pedantic, and a visionary who’s firmly grounded in reality and in the ‘now’. In fact, that is what has made Alfred’s plays so timeless and their themes so universal.
“If I feel strongly about something, then at some point I will write about it,” the playwright tells me. “Everything I write has to be a first, too. At least for me. I never do a similar play twice – even if it’s just the structure of the acts – and I always find a new director for every play because I believe that a new vision is essential to create something that speaks to new audiences and which doesn’t take anything I’ve written for granted.”
Funnily enough, Alfred’s greatest strength is also his greatest weakness, as he not only takes his time to write a play, but he doesn’t write at all unless he is completely and unrestrictedly consumed by the will and the desire to write about the subject at hand. And this is very evident in evolution of the themes discussed in his four plays.
The Priests’ Revolt (Ir-Rewwixxta tal-Qassisin), first staged at the Manoel Theatre on December 20, 1986, provided a constant shifting in time, space and viewpoint between a historical event (the uprising of the priests in 1775 under Grand Master Ximenes de Texada) and its enactment on stage by a company of Maltese seminarians exactly 20 years later. The parallels between what was happening in the play and in Malta at the time of its staging within the then-political sphere were not obvious to everyone, but they were clear enough.
At the time, Marco Galea (who has gone on to become a senior lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Malta and a local authority on political theatre), hailed it “as probably the most interesting play of the 1980s and the first important historical play to be written and performed in Malta since [its] independence”. The play has, in fact, gone on to be studied at University and, at present, it is the only Maltese play to be included, and in translation as part of the Theatre and Performance Matsec syllabus.
If I feel strongly about something, then at some point I will write about it
His second play, Please Let Me Go (Ippermettili Nitlaq), had its opening at St James Centre for Creativity almost 22 years later to the day. The subject now was birth and parenthood within the context of a doctor managing to save the life of a severely disabled baby, only for the parents to choose to let the baby die in the end. The two-act play, existential in its subject matter, was featured two years later in the ninth edition of the online catalogue of the European Theatre Convention as one “of the 120 best contemporary European plays for the stage”.
Four years later, Alfred returned with On Minors, Midlife Crises and Fast Motorbikes (Dwar Menopawsi, Minorenni u Muturi ‘High Speed’), a play he wrote as he was going through a midlife crisis himself, which followed a separation and culminated – rather stereotypically for a man who is so unconventional – in the purchasing of a convertible two-seater, sports car. This too was listed in the European Theatre Convention’s online catalogue – but this time, as one of the best 119 contemporary European plays for the stage.
The final play featured in the ‘Alfred Buttigieg: The Collected Plays’ is What is this, a Madhouse? (Mela Hawn Xi Manikomju?), which was on at Spazju Kreattiv just last year. The play, inspired by the characters at the retirement home where his mother – who has sadly passed away since – was in, was a poignant ode to the frailty and fragility of the human spirit and body. As a fellow Times of Malta-reviewer commented at the time, What is this, a Madhouse? was “a beautiful moment in the history of Maltese theatre [that] should also serve as a reminder that the old are not simple objects which can be put away”.
Bringing together 31 years of existential angst from a playwright and author who has been experimenting with writing since the age of 18 – Alfred is now 60 – his collected, translated plays will now give international readers and, hopefully, audiences, the chance to experience some of the most talked-about, studied and thought-provoking pieces to come out of Malta in modern times.
“Writing is not an enjoyable experience for me,” Alfred states, “probably because I am very self-critical. That’s why it takes me years to finish a product, and why I never enjoy it. I had one project in particular – a 10,000-word book – which took me two years to complete even though I spent four solid hours on it every single day. Even though I don’t enjoy it, something pushes me to do it, though… And, the truth is that, without the ability to write, I would feel devoid of everything.”
With an introduction by Marco Galea, Alfred’s collected plays have now been published internationally through Kindle and are available in a paperback format locally at all leading bookshops. The plays, translated by Irene Mangion (bar The Priests’ Revolt, which was translated by Marco Galea himself as part of his PhD research), was funded by the Malta Arts Fund.
“Although I had toyed with the idea of having them translated before – and even had requests – I never actually got round to doing it until now. The plays can now be a way for me to communicate with people from other countries and cultures as, while the treatment and the language are Maltese, the subjects they speak of are universal,” Alfred concludes.
As the playwright now works on finishing his latest – and, quite possibly, his last – play, we can only wait for what realities his next serving will explore. In the meantime, however, we can enjoy his first four plays in English as they make their way to international readers and audiences for the first time.