Repubblika Immakulata is set to turn Maltese stereotypes on their heads in a play that is as cutting as it is true. Adam Brimmer has a chat with scriptwriter Simone Spiteri to find out more.
It has been a while since we last heard from Du’ Theatre – can you fill us in on what has been happening in the background?
Quite a lot actually, some have become parents, which invariably changes lives and routines. Others have furthered their studies locally and abroad and some have had independent theatre experiences with other companies, as we like to do from time to time. I took a long hiatus and spent a lot of time writing, acted in just the one major play and kept a low profile. Fifteen years is a long time to be on the go, and these pauses help us recharge and grow, for when the time to regroup is ripe.
You’re back with a new script, Repubblika Immakulata. When did you start working on it, and what was the catalyst that led you to tackle this particular theme?
I’m not one to take years to finish a piece of work. I know several writers who write something and chuck it in a drawer, and work on it slowly over a number of years. But it’s not really my style.
However, this was very different. I hadn’t written for an adult audience in many years as I was experimenting with writing for young people. The gnawing feeling that I had this play somewhere in the recesses of my mind kept bugging me, but I couldn’t write it.
I always knew that it was going to be a bit of an amalgamation of many things I was observing around me here in Malta – not things that were making me feel particularly happy, I should add. But the proverbial glue to hold it all together kept eluding me. That is, until last summer when a particular character in the play came to mind and suddenly everything came together.
We had a meeting with Spazju Kreattiv’s programme manager, as Dù Theatre, to discuss the possibility of working together on this new script. The co-production model was agreed upon and here we are. It feels good to be back in this theatre.
Recently, questions of cultural identity and the role that tradition plays in maintaining said identity have been under the spotlight on the local arts scene. How important do you feel this element of tradition is to the intrinsic elements that make us Maltese?
Tradition is an intrinsic element to all cultures or units of people – be that in the intimacy of one’s home or tribe or on a broader national level. By nature, humans like to inherently live by rules, patterns, organised processes and agreed upon rituals. These tried and tested rites are what we turn to not just for acts of celebration or remembrance but also, perhaps subconsciously, for a sense of safety and belonging.
So yes, Maltese traditions are part of the fabric of who we are as people, whether we partake in those traditions or not. And the play tries to explore what happens and how we behave when those traditions are either challenged or revered more than they perhaps should.
And do theatre and the arts play a role in their preservation/share a responsibility to help do so? Or should the arts be helping us shed old roles and look forward?
Theatre’s main function has always been to hold up a mirror to society. In my book, at least, I see no point in inviting people to come sit and watch something and not at least try make them think, reflect and yes, why not... squirm in their seats a bit out of discomfort too. So I don’t think that my role as a playwright, primarily, is to preserve, shed or push anything anywhere.
As an artist, you should hand the audience the ingredients and a simple recipe... then let them bake their own cake
What I always aim to achieve is to observe and create an experience for the audience during which you present a situation and an assembly of people that they can connect with. And it’s through this connection that you hope a springboard for much deeper contemplation about these questions may be created.
Because in any case, no two audience members will absorb your work in the same way. We all carry our own baggage and receive a concept through our own specific lens. And that’s the beauty of the artwork/ audience relationship. I am of the firm belief that, as an artist, you should hand the audience the ingredients and a simple recipe... then let them bake their own cake.
How much of a reflection of the current reality – or even of real people – is the script?
I think it’s very relevant and topical to know how we live and behave with one another in 2019. As I said, I knew, right from the start, that the main important aim of this play was to try hold a mirror to audience members who, hopefully, will see themselves in parts – no matter how small – of the play. Anyone (including myself) who can walk away and feel totally detached and uninvolved from what s/he sees has either never lived in Malta or lives in a bubble or in denial. We are all complicit in the experience of being Maltese.
What were the biggest challenges in transferring your ideas to the stage?
Style. Definitely striking the balance between the symbolism of the play, which tries to examine the main pillars of our collective identity through broad brush strokes while also allowing the characters to breathe on a more intimate three-dimensional level. I have an amazing cast of seven actors who I chose before I started writing and who play over 10 characters in a fast-paced whirlwind of places and events. It was great to write specifically for actors I know and trust but it was also challenging to organise such a cacophony of voices in one smooth and sharp narrative. Many head-scratching moments down the line I’m glad all the jigsaw pieces are finally in place.
The script tackles the main triumvirate that makes up the Maltese cultural stereotype – politics, village feasts and massive weddings. Do you see this narrative slowly vanishing as the old values lose their hold?
Not at all. I think they are actually as strong as ever. Perhaps the way we approach and indulge in them might be different. One might not even want to necessarily refer to them as ‘values’ in the first place. The original intent of every element of these cultural stereotypes was, no doubt, honourable... but can we really say that bipartisan politics, religious fervour and fanaticism and all-out displays of materialism are still not part and parcel of daily life? Hardly.
Given that these themes are very much a stereotype for all that is Maltese, was it a challenge to stop the main characters from also becoming stereotypes? How did you make sure that they make the transition to three-dimensional characters?
The play’s main theme is the concept of dualism that is part of our collective DNA. We are a bipolar nation in pretty much everything. We thirst for extremes. So the characters and the structure of the play itself reflect this. The first part of the play sets up these archetypes that makes the audience feel comfortable. They assume that they know them, only we disassemble them all, bit by bit, in the second part.
Repubblika Immakulata is co-produced by Dù Theatre and Spazju Kreattiv. It runs between March 29 and 31 and from April 5 to 7 at 8pm at Spazju Kreattiv Theatre, Valletta.