A walkthrough performance of T. S. Eliot’s famous poem The Waste Land will be staged this evening at The Splendid in Valletta by The Strada Stretta Concept, under the auspices of the Valletta 2018 Foundation.
The Waste Land is widely regarded as one of the most important modernist poems of the 20th century. The 434-line poem, first published in 1922, deals with the themes of war, trauma, disillusionment and death – the after-effects of World War I.
Eliot’s poem loosely follows the legend of the Holy Grail and the Fisher King, combined with vignettes of contemporary British society. He employs many literary and cultural allusions from the Western canon, Buddhism and the Hindu Upanishads. The poem shifts between voices of satire and prophecy, featuring abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location and time, and conjuring of a vast and dissonant range of cultures and literatures.
The poem’s structure is divided into five sections. The first, ‘The Burial of the Dead’, introduces the diverse themes of disillusionment and despair. The second, ‘A Game of Chess’, employs vignettes of several characters and alternating narrations that address these themes experientially.
The third section, ‘The Fire Sermon’, offers a philosophical meditation in relation to the imagery of death and views of self-denial in juxtaposition, influenced by Augustine of Hippo and eastern religions.
After a fourth section, ‘Death by Water’, which includes a brief lyrical petition, the culminating fifth section, ‘What the Thunder Said’, concludes with an image of judgment.
Among its famous phrases are “April is the cruellest month”, “I will show you fear in a handful of dust”, and the mantra “Shantih, shantih, shantih”, the Sanskrit word for ‘peace’, with which Eliot eloquently closes the poem.
The cast of Anke T.S. Eliot Spiċċa Strada Stretta includes Jeremy Grech, Aislinn Nicole Fisher, Maria Cristina Caruana, Monique Dimech Genuis and Giulia Elena Xuereb. Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci is the artistic director.
Anke T.S. Eliot Spiċċa Strada Stretta will be performed today at 8pm at The Splendid, 84, Strait Street, Valletta. Admission is free. Drinks will be served during the performance.