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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 AUGUST 2024 3 THEATRE A home for artists and audiences alike Artistic Director Adrian Mamo talks through Teatru Manoel's new season BY STEFFIE WEENINK AS the sun sets on another hot and busy Maltese summer, the curtain is ready to rise on a spec- tacular new season at Malta's national theatre, Teatru Manoel. Following a successful first sea- son as Artistic Director, Adri- an Mamo sat down with me to talk through the programme of events and give a little behind- the-scenes look at the process of building a successful theatrical season. I (perhaps naively) started by asking Adrian about how early they start to plan a new season's programme, to which he re- sponded with a chuckle. "Well" he said, "planning a theatre pro- gramme obviously takes a lot of work, we're often juggling plans as early as 3 years in advance. But this amount of pre-planning is necessary to ensure that our sea- son is populated by performanc- es that excel in both quality and variety." In fact, "quality and va- riety" are traits that Adrian and Teatru Manoel prioritised great- ly when looking at programming for the season. "Teatru Manoel strives to maintain a sense of the theatre's original intention when it was established in 1731; being 'il te- atro del popolo', the theatre of the people. Every year, Teatru Manoel presents an array of dif- ferent genres of theatre and per- formance." According to Adrian this variety is a good sign, "be- cause it means that a lot of the population - both audiences and artists alike - feel that the theatre is their home, they feel associat- ed with and represented by the theatre." In the 1960s, when the theatre began working again after a tur- bulent few decades, it was basi- cally a rental theatre. At the time, the committee of the Teatru Manoel would offer the space to theatre, ballet, and opera compa- nies. "Over time, and especially nowadays," he notes, "the theatre feels that it should devise its own programme. Therefore, we see many more Teatru Manoel pro- ductions as well as an increasing number of co-productions with local theatre companies." And why does the theatre feel that need? "Because as a national the- atre we should offer productions which may not necessarily be commercially viable, but which we feel should be given the space for production or reflect an in- terest from the general public. Additionally, with co-produc- tions, we can assist in sharing the burden with the companies looking to create work." Before asking about the 2024/25 season, I prompted Adrian to re- flect on his first season as Artis- tic Director of Teatru Manoel. He admitted that despite a very long recovery time from the ef- fects of the pandemic, it was en- couraging to see the number of theatre companies and perfor- mances that have sprung up and persevered. It is equally encour- aging to see that as a theatre we are not only maintaining our au- dience numbers, but expanding them too. This in turn encourag- es us to bring better shows to the theatre." Moving on to the new season, what can we expect from the programme? Put briefly: quality and variety. With well over 50 productions from Teatru Ma- noel, TOI TOI, and their collab- orators, there really is something for everyone from hit musicals to baroque operas, Maltese com- edies to Greek tragedies, and so much more. "There are quite a few high- lights throughout our pro- gramme this year," Adrian in- formed me, "so I'll just mention a few. Firstly, we have Għażiż Francis, which is a play that de- buted in 2007. It's basically a conversation between two actors about their friend and colleague Francis Ebejer, weaving person- al anecdotes and memories in with extracts from his plays and novels." This performance will initially take place at Teatru Ma- noel in November, "but we in- tend to tour it throughout Malta in 2025, which is the centenary of Ebejer's birth." Musicals are proving more and more popular, with many local companies producing their own at a very high calibre, due par- ticularly to the incredible pool of talent we have on our islands across the disciplines of theatre, music, and dance. "This year at Teatru Manoel we are staging two major musicals; our original production of Into The Woods by Stephen Sondheim, direct- ed by Lucienne Camilleri with musical direction by Ryan Paul Abela. We are also teaming up with FM Theatre Productions for Dear Evan Hansen which is one of the most popular musicals from the last decade, particularly with younger audiences." Another highlight of the season is Teatru Manoel's production of Medea, which is a contem- porary rendering of the Ancient Greek tragedy by Euripedes, and the theatre has engaged Bettina Paris to direct it. This season's opera will be Gioacino Rossini's funniest and most popular work, Il Barbiere di Sivilgia which will be directed by Denise Mulhol- land with musical direction by Michael Laus, and the theatre has invited Maltese tenor Nico Darmanin for special concert of operatic Arias in October. Clas- sic hits such as the Christmas pantomime and the Valletta Ba- roque Festival will be returning, too. Under the direction of Kate Fenech Field, TOI TOI – the theatre's learning and participa- tion programme – creates the- atre, music, and dance perfor- mances for audiences of all ages, with a particular focus on work for children. Adrian explains that this work is important for two reasons; "firstly, because we believe that exposure to the per- forming arts from a young age is essential, but also because chil- dren are our future theatre-goers and makers." This November, in collaboration with ŻiguŻajg, TOI TOI will be presenting Ser- gei Prokofiev's masterpiece Peter and the Wolf, with the inimita- ble Alan Montanaro in the role of the narrator. "It is important for us to work with both Public Cultural Or- ganisations, as well as local in- dependent companies," Adrian tells me. "We are pleased to be bringing Moveo Dance Com- pany to stage an exciting and original version of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker this December. It is additionally important for us at Teatru Manoel to bring foreign artists and companies to the stage," he continues. "There- fore, in December we will also be hosting a special Puccini concert in collaboration with the Malta Bands Association and Il Cen- tro Studi Giacomo Puccini from Italy. Additionally, renowned Italian actor Giovanni Costanti- no will be coming to the theatre for a performance of Novecento, which is one of the great classics of Italian literature written by Alessandro Baricco. Costantino will be performing along with live music by pianist Alessia Bonnici." It is clear that this year's seasonal programme at Teat- ru Manoel will be a busy and invigorating one. And believe it or not, we've only touched on a fraction of the performances that will be gracing the stage in Valletta over the next 10 or so months. Keep an eye out for the full programme launching soon and visit www.teatrumanoel. mt for information on visiting the theatre, booking your tickets, and so much more. Left to right: Arias Nic (Photo: Brian Grech), Medea (Photo: Marija Grech)