Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1096093
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 MARCH 2019 5 THIS WEEK THEATRE these fictitious people's endeavours. Everyone watching the play will be reminded of someone they know through these characters... possibly, hopefully, even of themselves. What made you opt to go for such an openly satirical work? And how did you go about rendering representative aspects of 'Malteseness' in the play, without defaulting to either stereotypes or knee-jerk impressions? The play intentionally sets up these archetypes to start off with and then disassembles them progressively as the play wears on. What makes us safe, what we think we recognise at the beginning reveals itself to be much more complex than we origi- nally thought – which I think is an apt description of us Maltese. We tend to paint ourselves as being simple people at heart whereas I think we are a deeply complex nation, the result of an intricate history of con- querors, events, turmoil and survival instinct. This is woven into a tragi- comic set-up because I would like the audience to be constantly reminded that every time we laugh, empathise or deride these characters – which I think they invariably will in Repubb- lika Immakulata – we are essentially laughing, empathising and deriding ourselves. We are all complicit in the experience of being Maltese. What are some of the most urgent topical concerns that you want to address with this play, and how do you aim to challenge the Maltese audience with this work? Who are we really, in 2019? We aren't just the kind-hearted small na- tion that we like to portray ourselves as. Are we ready to acknowledge there is a harsher, perhaps murkier side to us? Can the generous, fundraising, hospitable, loud and colourful Mal- tese also be the same xenophobic, materialistic, environmentally un- conscious, pious people you see lit- tering social media feeds, ravaging the remaining patches of green left around the islands or gossiping in street corners? We've always been a nation of ex- tremes – are we ready to address this side of ourselves, at all? What do you make of the local theatrical scene? What would you change about it? I think it's a transitional time. The scene is exploring what it wants to be in many ways, sometimes with re- sults that leave much to be desired. I do feel there's a lack of a fringe sector which I feel is important to have in any theatre scene. When we started, out there were always a good ten or so small compa- nies at any given time in the theatre season – not everyone was producing the same type or quality of work, of course, but I think it's really impor- tant to have these small companies that exist in parallel to the larger, more institutional ones. A healthy theatre scene requires and should have space for both. The fringe is where the real experimenta- tion takes place, where mistakes can be made and lessons learnt, where the pressure is not big enough to force people to take safe choices rather than push the boundaries be- cause the stakes are too high. It's a playground each new artist needs be- cause it's where real growth happens and I think many are skipping this pivotal step. What's next for you? A good rest, for starters, your en- ergy levels are not the same when producing a play at 35 as it was at 21! Then we will be preparing for our 10 year anniversary celebration of Ap- puntamenti later on this year. It's a play that has a special place for us as a company and certainly a huge turning point for me as a playwright. Other than that, there's always more writing on the horizon, I have a book to finish and then who knows – I loved coming back to writing for an adult audience and I've more to say so I'm not putting my pen down any time soon. Repubblika Immakulata will be staged at Spazju Kreattiv at St James Cavalier, Valletta on March 29, 30, 31; April 5, 6, 7 at 20:00. Bookings: https://www.kreattivita.org/ "We tend to paint ourselves as being simple people at heart whereas I think we are a deeply complex nation" "Malta lacks a fringe sector, which is important to have in any theatre scene: the fringe is where the real experimentation takes place, where mistakes can be made and lessons learnt" Magdalena van Kuilenburg in Repubblika Immakulata Playwright and director Simone Spiteri