Teatru Salesjan, Sliema’s community theatre, has launched a new performance season for families and young people. From March to May 2018 three productions for young audiences will be presented in a special theatre season called
Nuna Palk, a collaboration between Teatru Salesjan and Culture Venture.
The programme reflects the objective of the community theatre to connect all different communities through creativity, while establishing the theatre building as a centre of culture primarily for the young.
Teatru Salesjan wants to encourage young families, including the grandparents, to share and enjoy the arts together. To support this vision, grandparents will be able to attend Nuna Palk for free with family block tickets purchased for any of the productions.
The first season of Nuna Palk will present Maltese productions originally commissioned by ŻiguŻajg International Festival for Children and Young People. The clowning show Ernesto & Bianca, performed in an invented language, will launch the season in March.
The comic duo, Jacob Piccinino and Heloise Suire explore two characters dealing with their own obsessions but manage to connect through their own differences. Ernesto is on a mission to impress Bianca but will he succeed with his obsessively timed and perfectly laid out tea party for two?
Ernesto & Bianca will be presented from March 16 to 18 at 6.30pm and is recommended for children aged seven plus. A morning performance for schools will be presented on March 16.
In April, Nuna Palk presents Blooming Creatures by Moveo Dance Company, nominated for the 2017 Best Artist of the Year in the Premju għall-Arti. Blooming Creatures explores how various living creatures interact with their surrounding environment, through dance. Each creature develops a unique interaction with its surrounding habitat depending on its requirements, be it nutrition, oxygen or for the mere form of survival.
Blooming Creatures is a mesmerising dance performance with colourful costumes that will capture the imagination of young audiences. The production will be presented on April 7 and 8 at 6.30pm and is recommended for children aged 5 plus.
The last production for the season will be Land of the big word factory by Teatru Anon, in an English adaptation of the album La grande fabrique de mots, written by Agnes de Lestrade and illustrated by Valeria Docampo.
The inventive performance with beautiful puppetry, music and live projections presents an imaginary land where all words are produced in a huge word factory. No word may be spoken unless it is bought and swallowed. In this world, the rich get to speak more often and use more powerful words.
Poorer people cannot afford to buy these words and must use more common, less effective words, if they can afford any words at all. A young boy, Phileas, must find his own way of expressing his love for a young girl Cybele. But what can he do when he can only afford a few words?
Land of the big word factory will be presented between May 4 and 6 at 6.30pm, with a presentation for schools on May 4, and is recommended for children aged 4 plus.
Teatru Salesjan is supported by Arts Council Malta through a Cultural Partnership Agreement.
www.tsmalta.com; www.ticketline.com.mt