Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1028264
12 CULTURE THEATRE maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 SEPTEMBER 2018 What is L-Ikla t-Tajba? In my research about food a fascinating character that lived in France (1758-1837) popped out as the main character of the performance. He was the founder of French gastronomic writing and the world's first restaurant critic, the first one who had encouraged people to deepen their knowledge of the Art of dining. His name is Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière. His connections with theatre in a performative way, as well as a critic, inspired him to create spectacular banquets in which the served food had, at the same time, artistic, social and political commentary and implications. Grimod observed that the true gourmand was always aware that the gastronomic art encompassed, "all questions of moral philosophy, all societal considerations as well . . . [which art] only seems superficial to those of common minds, who see in cooking only pots, and in dishes served only a dinner." Another focus I had for the performance was coming from the fascinating blend of myths and legends of Malta and Gozo that have travelled or were cooked in the Mediterranean (or Mare Nostrum) basin- pot, by the history and the contemporary reality of this space with all its complex dimensions. We have tried through our research and improvisations to re-tell and re-invent some theatrical and food maps that surpass time and space, using the poetry and the new texts written for this performance by Immanuel Mifsud. The minimalist set added a particular dimension to the magical Gozitan salt pans of Xwejni, as well as the visuals created by Peter Kosir. What attracted you to this project? The fascination for salt in our very personal salt pans, not only of the ones of Xwejni. Everything that was given by the sea and by the strong wind that were our very special guests at the performances. The complex and sometimes distorted topic of food. The poetry of Immanuel. The musicality of Gozo island. The beauty of Maltese language. In the end, all these together with the great presence and work of the actors, almost as dancers, have created quite a rich and meaningful texture for us and for our Gozitan journey. I do love poetry and I have the need from time to time to bring it in a spectacular form. I had done quite a few of performances where I created a scenario and used the poetry in the form of a dialogue. For one, for instance, called Orpheus or How To Undress Your Feathers (with the writings of the beloved Romanian poet and writer Gellu Naum) we got five stars in The Independent Newspaper from Dublin. Poetry is giving me the freedom to access many unseen and playful layers of reality. Immanuel's poetry is revealing a very rich, profound and direct universe. I had chosen a few poems through the readings with the actors and I had a few talks with Manuel where I came with the suggestion that he will write two monologues and one scene for Grimod. In one of them he had beautifully retold an ancient tale from my place, about salt, in another scene he created a surrealist atmosphere full of humour inspired by the local recipes and ingredients. I was interested to hear the very personal stories of the actors, their concerns and reflections regarding food. Then, together with Immanuel's poems and new writings for this performance I was weaving like a tapestry - a story called The Gozo Gourmand Diary of Grimod. Geographically speaking, one can say that Malta and Gozo are at the beginning of Europe. Or by the end of it, it depends how you want to look at it. We used the natural salt pans and pools prolonged by the constructed set done by Peter, as a decayed house just unveiled from the waves of the sea, and we created in the three pools the living spaces: kitchen, dining room and living room. Two of them were partly filled with water, so the image of the archaeological house plan was extrapolated into a new, almost surrealistic dimension. Then part of the food from the table "became "alive in Penelope's dream and the family start creating another layer of the story where the animals are the carriers of our recent history as well as of mythological elements. The masks of the rabbit, pig, octopus, bull, cat, eel and jellyfish-medusa were a collection of daily, historical, social and political threads interwoven into a dream carpet on which the last guest - The Empty Chair (with its clear European shape of the sitting part and being able to walk by itself via a motor) will arrive. Obviously this last guest at the table is a symbol. One of the possible connotations of this chair is directly linked with my country that will occupy in a few months the "CHAIR" of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. A European Union that faces some deep rearrangements within its mould and a big migrant crisis. In the past two years we, Romanians, have become known for the street manifestations of up to six Theatre that whets the appetite At the end of August, through the collaboration of the Valletta 2018 Foundation, audiences could feast their eyes – and stomachs – on an interactive theatrical experience called L-Ikla t-Tajba. PAUL COCKS spoke to NONA CIOBANU, the director of this unique theatrical performance that left the audience with an appetite for more I was impressed by the seriousness, hard working and sensitivity of all actors. And yes, there is quite a lot of common ground for continuing the collaboration between the two countries