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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 NOVEMBER 2021
EYEWITNESS
THE mural of the early-20th
century intellectual Manwel
Dimech, Malta's first true radi-
cal, is a surprise in Tower Road,
Sliema. The work is of Mal-
tese graffitti artist James Vella
Grimaud, aka Twitch.
The mural also coincides with
Teatru Malta's 'Il-Qfil U l-Ħel-
sien Skont Manwel Dimech', a
play by Victor Jacono and Kris
Spiteri that will take place as
a site-specific musical perfor-
mance in the old military prison
at Corradino.
"Some may say that Manwel
Dimech had one true calling:
to free the Maltese people from
shackles riddled with oppres-
sion, ignorance and fear," say the
playwrights. "Freedom from the
church and colonial rule meant
freeing the masses from a life
lived in superstition and fear of
the very institution that claimed
to safeguard them."
Il-Qfil u l-Ħelsien Skont Man-
wel Dimech is a devised musi-
cal theatre piece, interpreted
through the eyes of the man
whose writings paved the road
to liberation with knowledge,
thought and perseverance.
Directed and written by Victor
Jacono, and composed and mu-
sically directed by Kris Spiteri,
the riveting production will be
a walkthrough standing event
seeing Dimech rise from the
ashes of poverty and illiteracy to
become the man celebrated 100
years on from his death. "The
only real prison is fear itself," say
Jacono and Spiteri.
Manwel Dimech
in Sliema
