Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/490723
14 SALVU Mallia is many things to many people: including, it would seem, to himself. Painter, actor, theatre director, TV presenter, self- appointed spokesperson for Maltese culture, leftist anarchist, champion of the downtrodden… and more recently, one of a number of public figures to have endorsed the referen- dum campaign to abolish hunting in spring. But as tends to be the case with public personalities, the man behind all these masks is not all that easy to pigeonhole. I meet the presenter of Madwarna – TVM's flagship cultur- al programme, and the one role that has made of Salvu Mallia an almost instant household name – at his Bu- gibba home, and find that he is, in fact, every bit as voluble in real life as on TV. So keen is he to get the interview moving that I barely even manage to get a first question in. And when I do, it quickly becomes next to im- possible to squeeze in a second. "I was born an anarchist," he soon tells me when I finally manage to ask him how he views himself. "Even in my role as a television presenter, I consider myself an anarchist. I tore down what I found there before me, and built it all up again from scratch… because I found that one gets the message across much more with a joke and a laugh, than by being serious. But I was born an anarchist, and have always been very left-wing. I'm as left-wing as Jesus Christ. Not left-wing in the sense of the Labour Party, just to be clear. In fact I've al- ways had this problem with political parties in general. I like some things about them, but dislike others. But by left-wing I mean that I've always been on the side of the downtrodden. ALWAYS…" Mallia has a certain undeni- able flare for drama, and this comes across rather starkly in his manner of speech. The emphasis he places on that last word is particularly sug- gestive. Before meeting me for this interview, he was busy responding to some of the criticism he now faces – mostly from angry hunting sympa- thisers – on Facebook. But to Salvu Mallia, involvement in a campaign to protect birds is just a natural pro- gression from the philosophy he has always consciously tried to embrace: a tendency to jump to the defence of the underdog. This, he tells me, underpins all the various activities at which he has variously tried his hand… not least theatre, where his choice of plays as a director always seem to somehow involve marginalised or underprivi- leged sectors of society. "The first play I directed was… but wait, let me tell you the story from the beginning. From the outset, I was actually a painter. I spent long years painting, and after a while you end up like a hermit: completely cut off from the rest of the world. I put up three exhibitions, which on the whole were successful… I was considered one of the 'up-and-coming' painters… but then, suddenly, something snapped ['qabzitli']. I decided I needed people around me…" A chance encounter at a party landed him a small part in an MADC play. "It wasn't one of the bigger suc- cesses in my life," he candidly admits. But it did kick-start a small career as an actor, and it wasn't long before an opportunity arose to direct a play of his own: 'The Rise and Rise of Arturo Ui', by Bertolt Brecht. His efforts were well received, but it was with a stage version of Ken Kesey's 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' that Salvu Mallia had his first 'hit', so to speak, as a theatre direc- tor. "It was a massive success. I remem- ber how [theatre critic] Paul Xuereb came up to me afterwards, hugged me and said 'Thank you'. And, let's face it, he wasn't exactly the type to praise everything…" Mallia adds that part of his entire directorial approach was 'anarchic', also in the sense that he kept such aspects as costumes and stage design to the bare minimum. His set for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was a naked scaffolding; for King Lear, just a table and three chairs. At the same time, there seems to be a slight contradiction in there some- where. As presenter of 'Madwarna', he seems to have gone for the clean opposite approach: often appear- ing in lavish and flamboyant 17th century regalia. Has he changed his Spartan outlook over the years? "No, I don't see it as a contradiction at all. The reason is very simple, real- ly…" Here he breaks into a laugh… "I have always remained a child. Wear- ing costumes was always a childhood pleasure of mine. And if you look at other artists… Picasso, Lautrec… they all liked wearing costumes, too. Besides, I find it helps to draw the viewer into the story…" Speaking of stories, and the need to draw television viewers into them… for all his past theatrical efforts, Salvu Mallia is today best known as the presenter of 'Madwarna', which is ultimately a programme dedicated to culture. This seems very far re- moved from his earlier claims to represent an anarchic streak of the extreme left. 'Culture' tends to be re- garded (perhaps somewhat unfairly) as something of a niche product that appeals only to a very limited audi- ence. At the risk of generalising, many people tend to switch off when they hear the word… Mallia nods vigorously. "And they're quite right, too. Let me tell you why. First of all, it's a great pity that everyone merely pays lip serv- ice to culture. They will claim to appreciate culture, yes; but in real- ity they wouldn't be interested in it at all. Another thing is that cultural programmes on TV very often tend to be treated from an academic per- spective. As a result, presenters end up speaking an academic language. I am not an academic. I'm not saying this to boast, but the fact is I dropped out of school after Form 3. Initially I was going to become a priest. But then I quit the seminary too. I was supposed to carry on studying, but I never did. Even at school, I wasn't exactly a shining star. But I was lucky in that, when I left school, someone gave me a book. Before that, I had never read anything at all..." The book was called 'I Flew for the Fuhrer': the diary of a Luftwaffe pilot in World War II. "By coincidence I recently came across a documentary about the same pilot on YouTube. At the time – I was around 15 – I was obsessed with planes. I read the book, and… that was it. Suddenly I started reading anything I could lay my hands on. Enid Blyton, anything I could find. I started a career in read- ing. So whatever I learnt, I learnt it after school…" Mallia takes a certain pride in the fact that his education never re- ally came from any formal training. "Today, I hold that I am lucky that I never went to university. Otherwise, I would probably have ended up talk- ing in the same academic language I mentioned earlier. Apart from the fact that I have to make more of an effort, as many of things I end up talking about are things I am unfa- miliar with. Even the places I talk about on Madwarna… many of them will be places I'd never been to be- fore…." Whether or not its popularity is attributable to the untutored, un- varnished approach of its presenter, 'Madwarna' has proved a tremen- dous hit with the local audience… and, as Mallia is keen to point out, even with foreigners. From this per- spective, his sudden decision to enter the political fray, so to speak – even if it's politics with a small 'p' – may seem like something of a risk. What was it, exactly, that compelled him to take an active part in the spring hunting campaign? And was he ex- pecting the feedback (both positive and negative) that ensued? Mallia argues that anyone familiar with his public persona would have expected no less than an unequivocal endorsement of the 'No' campaign. "If you watch my programme reg- ularly and read between the lines, you'll notice that I've been saying the same thing for a long time now. I may not spell it out in as many words… I prefer encouraging peo- ple to think for themselves and draw their own conclusions… but I feel that killing for pleasure is immoral. It can be legal, yes, but it can never be moral. To enjoy killing, whatever it is you're killing, can never be mor- ally correct…" In the case of hunting, he adds, the issue is not just about killing but also about inflicting pain. "Once I got a sliver stuck inside my hand, so I know what it is to be in pain. Can you imagine what it's like for the bird?" But was he also concerned that his decision might ultimately affect his popularity with the masses… possi- bly even to the extent that it might affect viewer ratings? "No. I did think about it a little. But… let me put it this way. One of the plays I once directed was 'Faust'. We all know the story of Faust – he sold his soul to the devil. I am an atheist myself – everybody knows this, I'm not the type to hold back – so I don't directly believe in the dev- il… but I do believe in evil, in good and bad. To me, selling your soul means abandoning one's principles for personal gain. And we see this all the time. Without beating about the bush… the two parties have both done it. But this is one of the messag- es I'd like to put across. One's prin- ciples should come first. Not money, not votes, not anything else." Many people, he adds, prefer to pay lip service to principles. "We all say 'we believe' in this or that... but in many cases it's just words. People say they believe in God, for instance. This weekend we're commemorating the passion of Christ. You hear peo- ple saying, look at how much Christ suffered, poor thing ['jahasra']. How, then, can you go and do the same thing to a bird? How can you do it?" Mallia concludes that people often don't think through the consequenc- es of their beliefs or actions. "Do you remember the film Planet of the Apes? When the roles of apes and people were reversed? That's what people need to do sometimes. Are we capable of reversing roles, and imag- ining what it would be like if things were the other way around?" Still, some might argue differently. I myself disagree with the argument I am about to make; but in the eyes of hunters and those who are sym- pathetic to their cause, there may be a contradiction lurking in Mallia's take on this issue. For one thing, he presents a programme which is os- tensibly about Maltese culture and traditions. Hunters argue that their hobby is itself a Maltese cultural tradition in its own right. By that token… shouldn't he be defending Interview By Raphael Vassallo maltatoday, SUNDAY, 5 APRIL 2015 The many faces of I was born an anarchist, and have always been very left-wing. I'm as left- wing as Jesus Christ… MORALITY Killing for pleasure is immoral. It can be legal, yes, but it can never be moral. To enjoy killing, whatever it is you're killing, can never be morally correct… POLITICS