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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 NOVEMBER 2023 6 ALMANAC My essentials MICHAEL MANGION 56, Teatru Manoel Head of Production and part-time actor I originally trained professionally as an actor in London where I lived for 26 years but never took it up seriously as a profession although I did work in various West End theatres for about 12 years whilst embarking on a marketing career. Since moving back to Malta, I joined Teatru Manoel initially to manage the marketing and then moving to production six years ago. 4 5 1. Book 2. TV 3. Internet 4. Music 5. Place MY reading source nowadays is predominantly the internet. I do follow, although not reli- giously, a few travelling social media influencers. I'm a bit of a news junky so I'm usually scouring the news sites with the BBC being my first port of call. "If it's not on the BBC site it's not news" is my mantra. An- other daily visit is also made to the Stage section of The (UK) Guardian where I read all the latest reviews of all the new theatre productions opening in the UK. MY musical tastes are quite varied but unsophisticated. I've never actually been fanat- ical about any type of music, singer or song although giv- en the choice musical theatre would be my preferred genre. I also go through phases and if I had to pick a current singer on the scene I guess I'd have to say I always stop and listen if an Adele song comes on. All her songs, like most great mu- sical theatre songs, tend to tell a really good story. HAVING lived there for so long and because I know it so well, London is now my number one holiday destination. Not only do I get to catch up with old friends but it has the best theatre scene in the world so I always binge watch all sorts of shows when I'm there. I'm also gradually fall- ing in love with Rome which is my partner's favourite city and he insists on going there a few times a year and each time I get to see a different part of it. I'M ashamed to say that I hardly read books anymore as I'm more of a newspaper and blog reader nowadays. Having said that I picked up My Family And Other Animals by Gerald Durrell from the airport recently, which turned out to be an excellent holiday read. In- terestingly it was always on my reading list when I was quite young, which is where it stayed, because, being more of an urbanite, I would always choose a city novel over it. SOMETHING I watched re- cently which really stuck out for me was not quite a film but the TV series It's A Sin by Russell T Davies. It follows the lives of a group of young friends in London during the 1980s and the AIDS crisis. It resonated with me because it reminded me so much of my experience of moving to London in 1985 as a naive 18-year-old gay man fasci- nated by this new life in this great city whilst also living through such a scary health crisis. Compiled by Laura Calleja suggestions by email lcalleja@mediatoday.com 1 This article is supported by Arts Council Malta 3 2