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13 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 JUNE 2019 CULTURE THIS July Teatru Malta together with the Malta International Arts Festival will be presenting the highly anticipated Summer production Pope Joan at the Mdina Ditch on the 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12th. Directed by German born Irene Christ, this show, which forms part of the highly anticipated Summer festi- val, will mark her return to directing locally since 2008's smash hit Tattoo by Dea Loher. Christ is no stranger to the local theatre scene and has been working as both an actress and director here and overseas for a number of years. This exciting open air show, has been in the works for months with lead actress Maria Buckle rehearsing together with the rest of the talented cast to tell the story of a prodigy who chooses to defy all odds by challenging the highly conservative male dominat- ed society she was born into. Joan is a defiant and determined fe- male who will stop at nothing to ac- quire the knowledge she's been so un- fairly denied of. Why? Because she was a woman, a woman who refused to concede to the constraints that were imposed upon her. Instead she focused on learning to read behind her father's back by dis- guising herself as a boy to further her learning at a monastery where she'd be accepted as a male monk until eventually becoming, as legend has it, the first and only female Pope to have ever lived. Christ is no stranger to tackling hot topics like feminism, gender identity or religion so we're all on our toes to see how she intends on interpreting this piece based on the novel by Don- na Woolfolk Cross in the stage version by Susanne Felicitas Wolf. This pre- miere will mark the first time this sen- sational production will be performed in English, and what a star studded cast to do it. Antonella Axisa, Chris Galea, Faye Paris, Alan Paris, Mikhail Basmadji- an, Alex Weenink, Michael Mangion, Joe Depasquale, Stephen Mintoff and Peter Galea will all have main parts along with the youngest actors, Il- eana Sammut, Julian Zammit and Miguel Azzopardi with costumes and production design by Joachim Ham- ster Damm. Pope Joan is made possible with the support of Festivals Malta, The Mal- ta International Arts Festival, Arts Council Malta under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice Culture and Local Government, the Restoration Directorate Rehabilitation Project, Goethe Institute, U.S Embassy and The German Maltese Circle. Shows will begin at 8 30pm and are suitable for audiences over the age of 14. For tickets and more information on Pope Joan visit kultura.mt. THE element of water will feature strongly in this year's edition of The Malta International Arts Festival, with some events actually going under water. The 2019 edition of the Malta Interna- tional Arts Festival (MIAF), produced by Festivals Malta, will be launched in less than two weeks' time with a spectacular opening weekend that will set the tone of the performances to come. MIAF Artistic director Ruben Zahra is promising a programme of events that will bring about innovation and artis- tic excellence to this year's festival. Set against the backdrop of the azure splen- dour of the Mediterranean – our island's greatest asset – 'water' will be a theme that will feature strongly; and will be the main element of two performances in the repertoire of exhilarating shows in this edition's line-up. So what can audiences expect? Under the artistic direction of Laila Skovmand, Danish company Between the Music's production AquaSonic pre- miered in the Netherlands in 2016. It is now a viral phenomenon, and the con- cert is requested all over the world. As its name implies, AquaSonic is the meeting of water and sound – five performers sub- merge themselves in glass water tanks to play custom-made instruments and sing entirely underwater. Performing inside these darkly glittering, aquatic chambers, they produce compositions that are both eerily melodic and powerfully resonant. It is certainly an unorthodox method of performing – and has been 10 years in the making. AquaSonic is the culmina- tion of years of research into the exciting possibilities of submerged musical per- formance. The artists conducted count- less experiments in collaboration with deep-sea divers, instrument makers and scientists to develop entirely new, high- ly-specialised subaqueous instruments. It certainly has to be seen – and heard – to be believed. Chinese contemporary classical com- poser and conductor Tan Dun's hyp- notic three-movement Water Concerto, for water percussion and orchestra, will feature in the performance of the same name. In this fascinating piece, a solo- ist manipulates water through various means including a soda bottle, a water- phone, a pair of water tube drums, a wa- ter gong, and two basins of water. Probably best known for composing the scores for the films 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'Hero', Tan Dun's works often incorporate audio-visual elements and instruments constructed from organic materials, such as paper, water, and stone. Water Concerto will feature the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and Chinese percussionist Beibei Wang in the lead role under the direction of Czech con- ductor Pavel Šnajdr. The programme will also include music by German com- poser Paul Hindemith, Russian com- poser Dmitri Shostakovich and the late Maltese composer Joseph Vella. Water Concerto is co-organised by the China Cultural Centre in Malta. For more information about Aquasonic and Water Concerto and to view the full programme of the Malta International Arts Festival 2019, visit www.festivals. mt/miaf. Pope Joan: defying all odds Water, water everywhere…