Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1037099
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 OCTOBER 2018 CULTURE This is a subject close to your heart. Tell us more about your childhood memories out on the field I will tell you about the first memories which are carved in my head from the island of Gozo. When I was a kid I used to trap lizards. It is summer, I am a kid. We are in Gozo to help our cous- ins harvest the last few tomatoes left in the sun to turn them into tomato sauce. I would wait for everyone to sleep, and while my family had their siesta, as the sun was too hot for them to work in, I would run out to trap lizards. Even though I wasn't supposed to. Lizards, like cicadas, like to sunbathe – the lizards I would trap would be taken back home with me to Malta, next to the city, close to the port away from nature, because there I would never see lizards. I fondly recall wearing the clothes I'd want to wear in the morning from the night before so that when my father would wake me up (very early) I would be ready to go without losing even a minute! I can never for- get the smell of the morning dew and how wet the grass used to be in the dark or the instant coffee and the toasted Maltese bread I'd have for breakfast at sunrise. But most of all I can recall the daily ritual of the robin in autumn time, travelling to the highest branch of a tree and breaking darkness with his song just be- fore dawn. But the memory which has stayed with me the most was the marvelling whistle of a bird pro- duced by a man. This sole mem- ory is the driving force behind this work and this project. You recently moved to Amsterdam; how did you go about conducting all this research? This work can be easily be con- sidered a one-man show. I cre- ated most of it in a living room by inviting close friends and col- leagues over to share and discuss what I was busy working on. This final product was built step by step. I came to Malta multiple times – first in December, February, April and July. I am blessed to have an incredible team around me; but mostly being able to collaborate with my father has turned out to be an amazing ex- perience - In Amsterdam I start- ed to have conversations with my peers and advisors – I was mostly interested in how non-Maltese could relate to this subject of birds and trapping – I wanted a non Maltese gaze towards the work so as not to get stuck in cre- ating something insular which speaks only to Maltese. I aimed to bring out bigger themes in life- the relationship between genera- tions; the inheritance of namra, land and above all; knowledge. When did you decide that this would be your next project, why NASSABA? One doesn't decide these things. I am continuously on the lookout for what could resonate most with society (Malta in this case). I think that is what thea- tre is about or at least, I believe so. Since I spent the majority of my childhood following my father's adventures I was loaded with materials; stories; images; and memories - all of which I am calling Song of a Bird. I would say that all of this started 10 years ago when spring bird trapping became illegal. I never expected that in the same year I would come to produce theatre about trappers, the European Court of Justice would find the Republic of Malta guilty of not protecting wild birds, resulting in a com- plete ban on trapping for the the seven species which we call l-ghasafar ta' l-ghana. I have been truly fascinated by the way these men can imitate the song and call of different birds without the aid of any whis- tle for a long time. Why do they do it? We do not understand bird language, so mostly I wanted to understand why they learn to sing to birds? What is the real beauty of trapping? You'll be touring a series of interesting venues; why is touring so significant to this piece? The idea of touring was not mine - it was Teatru Malta the producer who proposed it. I be- lieve this is in line with their vi- sion of having a theatre without walls. I gladly went along as when creating new work and new themes I am also looking for new formats of presentation. Although this work can easily be performed in any of Valletta's big stages, black box theatres or its baroque theatre house, Sean Buhagiar artistic director of Te- atru Malta strongly believed that my work should move out of the capital city, so I went for a look out, and here we are. I have been trying and testing these ideas for a very long time and I know it works simply because the thea- tre scene is very small and very dry with little or no infrastruc- ture in place. Some ten years ago I started to experiment in creat- ing pop up theatre venues and I find that this works on the level of generating new audiences and in bringing new forms of theatre to beautiful places and beautiful people. I looked for social clubs which somehow related to birds only to discover that all these 'odd' hob- bies which were until recently embedded in the Maltese land- space are in danger of disappear- ing so I was very interested in taking this work to the commu- nity rather than waiting for the community to come to theatre. Why choose documentary theatre to tell this particular story? I did not choose documentary theatre as a form, however, I think that it is the closest to de- scribe what I am about to pre- sent. I would call it essayistic theatre because of the polyphony of media and materials I am pre- senting and also the way texts, videos, images, archives, per- sonal comments, political and historical aspects and different voices come together. I am not telling one particu- lar story - I am telling multiple stories. I see myself as a curator, a curator of knowledge. Apart from the story of my father and my family in relation to nature, birds and trapping, I went on a fanatic search for other materi- als which related to this 'obscure' practise. I am telling the story of an island in the modern era re- arranging and transforming the landscape and the life of people into an urban and modern life- style. The idleness of spending hours sitting in nature do not belong or are not welcome in a society that is trying to be pro- ductive and constantly develop further. I am telling the story of those young teenagers who spent days in idleness at the edge of the cliffs with their nets, singing like birds. The use of the video and photo camera and other technologi- cal tools to record and transmit knowledge are tools I often use. Yet again I find myself trying to collect and re-arrange knowledge which is hard to find in books and published texts - The Eu- ropean Court of Justice decided for the birds last summer; while I was busy trying to uncover the beauty of trapping. Any final words from Jimmy Grima before curtain goes up on the 12th? Yes of course – I'd like to recall an incident which happened a few days ago – a bird trapper is being convicted with the highest degree for trapping illegally – I'd like to take this opportunity to show my personal admiration for this community which is pre- senting a resistance. I understand what makes you go there – even now that all of a sudden it is ille- gal. I can relate because if one day an authority that doesn't really understand self expression or the arts were to ban theatre I would not be able to comprehend it and I too would try to find ways to go and do it anyway. What makes him go there while risking all he has is incompre- hensible to those who do not or have not experienced "namra". - or the manifestation of fanatical love as Mintoff called it in 1976 - something he found difficult to deal with when stepping into the modern era - the era which slowly brought in the rise of our GDP on the backs of hard work- ing productive people. I feel very sorry to see Malta em- bracing and accepting this stand- ardisation; I am afraid things are getting lost in my absence. The little character left from the past; the obscure, wild and uncivilised islanders of my childhood stories will soon be buried under high- rise apartments, wide four lane roads and new bars and restau- rants. I am afraid that this change is more of a loss then a win, one for the worse rather then for the better. NASSABA - Song of a Bird, will tour in a variety of unorthodox locations across both islands. Please be advised that seating is limited and will vary from venue to venue. To book your tick- ets and for more information visit teatrumalta.org.mt or call 21220255 This autumn, Teatru Malta in collaboration with the rubberbodies collective will be presenting their debut documentary theatre piece: NASSABA - Song of a Bird between 12 and 18 October 2018. PAUL COCKS spoke to JIMMY GRIMA, the production's leading artist, to find out more about this exciting production The song of a bird that was an inspiration Jimmy Grima in Qrendi in 1977