Theatre
Game
National Stadium, Ta’ Qali

Loss is an inevitable human emotion which must be endured, often for survival or as a forced, unwanted rite of passage. Whether the negativity that it creates can be used to channel a better final outcome, or whether its destructive forces spread and fester beyond its point of origin depends in great part on the strength of character of those affected, as well as their ability to deal with the trauma of those around them.

Loss is at the heart of Brad Birch’s new play Game, which saw its world premiere take place in the open-air VIP stand at the National Stadium in Ta’ Qali.

While its overlying subject matter and vehicle is football and the relationship that people have with it, there are subtler and much darker undertones which go far beyond fandom and explore the ugly truths behind the beautiful game.

Teatru Malta has teamed up with Unifaun to produce this very nuanced play that deals with grief and loss of a parent, friend, mentor and coach; along with the loss of loyalty and disillusionment that goes with uncomfortable truths, which seem to rise to the surface when you least expect them to.

The direction of Lisa Ferlazzo Natoli and Alessandro Ferroni gave this 90-minute performance a well-timed and sharply choreographed feel, in spite of the occasionally random tableaux-like sequences which interjected the hyperrealistic scenes and complimented Romualdo Moretti’s excellent set – a restaurant at which a wake has just taken place.

Loss is at the heart of Brad Birch’s new play

The play is set in Malta, which is not initially obvious because of the ambiguity of the characters’ cultural identities – an implication that this could be adapted to suit any locality. What matters are the relationships between the characters and the manner in which they each pull each other’s strings.  Indeed, it was the barely perceptible undertone of blended cultural vision drawing on Maltese, British and Italian influences with the local setting, the playwright’s idiosyncratically stark northern outlook, coupled with the directors’ Italianate styling, which gave the piece an oddly cosmopolitan, foreign yet familiar feel, which I found worked very well.

Chris Gatt’s very suggestive lighting design complemented Ferroni’s sound design – which cast an ominous and rather heavy tone of introspection over the piece. This served to enhance the contrast between the calm and resigned exteriorisation of grief which the characters had, and their inner demons. In a world cast in doubt by the scandal and tarnishing effects of corruption.

Malcolm Galea played the restrained Chris, who helps run the restaurant which his wife Daniela (Erica Muscat) built up as a personal venture away from his family legacy.

Erica Muscat

The football club where his father George was manager for many years is part of his family’s blood but their loyalty to it and consequently their father, bound them to pay a hefty price: sacrificing their individuality for something that was greater than them.

Inexorably bound are also Chris’s younger sister Lisa (Julia Ann Camilleri), her boyfriend, team captain, Anthony (Davide Tucci) and the club president Peter (Stephen Oliver). Public grief at George’s death contrasts with loyalty and resentment as simmering tensions bubble over following Peter’s damning revelations.

The greater part of the piece is sustained by Muscat, Oliver and Galea, who gave a very studied and cautious performance which complimented the tension and subtleties of Muscat’s resolute Daniela and a great performance by Oliver whose forthright role as benevolent patriarchal substitute was buoyed by a desire to keep his club afloat and its reputation intact.

Their outwardly calm demeanour clashed with the restlessness of Camilleri’s pained Lisa – a young woman who cannot bear the heartlessness of death nor the horror of the truth, but who manages to handle it with remarkable sang froid once she makes her peace with it.

Tucci’s steadfast Anthony was a different advocate of loyalty in the face of disillusionment, regret and disgust.

Game was a well-cast, thought-provoking assessment of the ties that bind and often constrict, linking the loss of a loved one to loss of control and autonomy in a character study that looks at how external corruption can corrupt you from within.

A great new play and very appropriately launched given World Cup season: not one to miss.

Game is being staged at the MFA Trophies Lounge, National Stadium, Ta’ Qali tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday at 10pm.