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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 DECEMBER 2021 6 THEATRE Merry mischief, monkeys and mayhem at the Manoel! Ready for some slapstick family fun this festive season? Opening on Boxing Day, Roald Dahl's The Twits is coming to Teatru Manoel for the first time ever. We go behind the scenes to find out how this wonderfully wild show will make merry monkey- inspired mischief at the Manoel this Christmas. YOUNG mischief-makers (or the mischievous young at heart) get set: a new show at the Ma- noel is preparing to add a good dose of monkeying around to your family's Merry Christmas! From 26-30 December, a stel- lar cast will bring Roald Dahl's The Twits to life on the Manoel stage. Produced by Teatru Ma- noel, created by Masquerade Malta and adapted and direct- ed by acclaimed theatre direc- tor Ian Moore, Dahl's much- loved children's classic with a wicked sense of humour has transformed into a colourful and chaotic circus-style show packed with music, dance and drama. In the exciting and extraordi- nary story, we meet the deeply unpleasant Mr and Mrs Twit. They are nasty to each other, and they are vile to everyone else. To make matters worse, they hold a family of monkeys called the Muggle-Wumps hostage in a cage and make them stand on their heads – all the time! Can the clever Mug- gle-Wumps and the magnifi- cent Roly-Poly bird outwit the vicious Twits and teach them a lesson in how to be nice? Much like the rest of Dahl's books, The Twits is a charming, moral tale about being loving, caring and being nice to one another. As the author himself writes: "A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts, it will shine out of your face like sun- beams and you will always look lovely." That Dahl has three entries in the BBC Top 100 cer- tainly confirms that he is one of the nation's best-loved authors, for both children and adults alike. The Twits this Christmas promises to live up to his leg- end, thanks to the imagination of the cast, creative team, cos- tume department and make-up artists. Watching three adults playing monkeys will certainly be hilarious! Malta's national theatre pro- duction of Roald Dahl's The Twits features a cast of well- known actors and rising stars including Katherine Brown as Ringmaster and the Roly-Poly bird, Eliza Aquilina and Jayne Giordanella as Mr and Mrs Twit, Matthew Cilia and Ber- tha Farrugia as Mr and Mrs Muggle-Wump and Emily Ab- ela as their daughter. "I play Mrs Twit and she's not a particularly nice person," ex- plains Jayne Giordanella. "She has had ugly thoughts over many years that have made her into quite the ugly person all- round. The sight of her could curdle milk and her favourite things to do are playing nas- ty tricks on her husband and using her walking stick to hit things!" Meanwhile, Masquerade's production co-ordinators an- thony bezzina and Veronica Bezzina lead a highly experi- enced and hugely talented cre- ative team behind the scenes, with set design by Romualdo Moretti, costume design by Louie Noir, hair design by Mi- chael and Guy, make-up design by Krista Paris and flying by Audrick Plum. "For me, the biggest highlight of the rehearsal process has been falling over on purpose so often while practicing our routines and spending a good amount of time upside down!" laughs Emily Abela, giving a glimpse of what's to come in her role as Muggle-Wump Daughter. "This is closest you can get to having a panto-like atmos- phere, so families especially will love the show this Christ- mas. It will be a wonderful ex- perience for children, and it may even inspire them to read the book. But don't worry par- ents – you will find the jokes funny too!" In fact, the cast seems to have enjoyed embodying the won- derful silliness of it all during rehearsals just as much as au- diences will as they watch the hilarious story unfold on stage. "I've loved taking part in the circus routines with the other monkeys and climbing on high surfaces in the cage," shares Bertha Farrugia. "And my favourite part has been watching all the mon- keys perform!" Eliza Aquilina agrees. "The actors are incred- ibly talented, and their animal work has great detail. I could spend all day watching them. Plus, it's fascinating to see a family sacrificing its own hopes and dreams for another fami- ly. The Twits is a spectacle for everyone, and kids will abso- lutely love it." With a festive season that comes following a difficult couple of years for the theatre and arts communities – and another without Malta's tradi- tional host of Christmas pan- tomimes – Roald Dahl's The Twits offers a joyful chance for artists and creatives to cel- ebrate Christmas once again by delighting audiences young and old from the national thea- tre's famous stage. "The Twits brings its own kind of Christmas magic to the mix – and while it is not a pan- tomime, it is still hugely fun and fantastical with audience inter- action, breath-taking sets and costumes and, of course, the wonder of flying. At last, fam- ilies can reinstate their festive tradition of going to the thea- tre together!" says Teatru Ma- noel CEO Massimo Zammit. "This wonderfully wild show will bring back the Christmas spirit and, for an hour, let us all leave the cares of the world outside, settle down in the safe and warm surroundings of the Manoel, and enjoy a side-split- ting festive laugh in the compa- ny of our loved ones." The Twits will be performed at Teatru Manoel, Valletta at 3pm, 6pm and 9pm on 26 De- cember, then at 4pm and 7pm on 27, 28, 29 and 30 December. The show is suitable for brave children aged six and above and their families and is staged in line with all current COV- ID-19 protocols. For more in- formation and to book tickets, visit www.teatrumanoel.com. mt, call on +356 2124 6389 or email on bookings.mt@teatru- manoel.mt.