Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/649887
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 MARCH 2016 37 This Week TEODOR RELJIC MIGRATION has finally moved from being a mere headline-grab- ber on local media and portals, to a topic being taken seriously in the artistic sphere from various angles. And the month of February bore this fact out quite clearly, with two – otherwise quite different – the- atrical performances using migra- tion as their jumping off point. Lampedusa, the play by Anders Lustgarten staged at Spazju Kreat- tiv (St James Cavalier) in Valletta in both English and Maltese-lan- guage versions, was a stylistically simple but effective attempt at showing how migration can mean different things to different people, and how its ripple effects permeate across various borders. Directed by Herman Grech for Unifaun Thea- tre, the play's strongest asset was its two-hander cast, with Pia Zam- mit playing a Syrian migrant natu- ralised into UK life and Mikhail Basmadjan throwing himself into the role of Lampedusa fisherman whose job is now focused on col- lecting dead migrant bodies from the sea. A likeable actor whichever way you spin it, Basmadjan is a per- fect fit for the fisherman Stefano, whose grizzled charisma wins you over even when his worldview is not all that pleasant, and then he'll have you rooting for him whole- heartedly once he decides to stop looking at migrants as mere num- bers and embark on a death-de- fying mission to save one of their number. This also leads to some- thing of a "Hollywood" ending. Thankfully, Zammit's Denise – Chinese in the original, made Syr- ian for the Maltese audience – is a more nuanced character. A sec- ond-generation migrant working a thankless trade – loan collect- ing – she faces regular prejudice at home, while cultivating a few of her own. An emphatic and likeable per- formance, the play is however let down by its back-and-forth mono- logue structure, with Stefano and Denise's stories placed in parallel for the sake of the viewer, but nev- er quite click into place themati- cally in a satisfying way. A similar problem beset Rima: Encounter with Migrant Nar- ratives , which overlapped with Lampedusa over its two-evening run at the end of February. Form- ing part of the artistic-anthro- pological 'Rima' project – which seeks to first and foremost allow migrants themselves to tell their stories – the performance, direct- ed by Marcelle Teuma at Palazzo Pereira, Valletta sourced its stories from real migrants living in Malta. The main point of interest here was that while two professional ac- tors – Sharon Bezzina and Magda- lena Von Kuilenburg – enacted a number of real-life stories collect- ed by the Rima team, non-profes- sional actors Ali Konate (Mali) and Marta Lombardi (Italy) took to the stage to tell their own experience of migration in general and Malta in particular. The meaning of home, and the varied priorities of the informants, were interesting to see in a theat- rical context, but just as Lampe- dusa's juxtaposition of mono- logues felt a bit too pat, so would Teuma's approach have benefit- ted from a more streamlined take on the narratives. As it stood, Ko- nate's compelling tale of escape and hardship overwhelmed the other stories – spanning America, Japan and Italy – and created an unwelcome, and doubtlessly un- intended, rift between 'types' of migration presented. However, the remaining trio remained a physical presence throughout Konate's monologue, just as he stands in for an Italian relative during Marta Lombardi's endearing evocation of a bustling family lunch. This strand of migrant-focused theatre may need tweaking, but it feels like an interesting, even necessary, experiment in its own right. Lampedusa was staged at Spazju Kreattiv (St James Cavalier) Feb- ruary 13, 14, 18-21, 25-28. Rima: Encounter with Migrant Narra- tives took place at Palazzo Pereira, Valletta on February 26 and 27. For more information about the project and to learn more about its latest crowdfunding campaign, log on to: https://rimaprojectblog. wordpress.com/ PHOTOGRAPHY BY VIRGINIA MONTEFORTE Clockwise from left: Marta Lombardi, Magdalena Von Kuilenburg (back), Ali Konate and Sharon Bezzina during Rima: Encounter with Migrant Narratives Migration: from the headlines and into the theatre Orphée et Eurydice at Teatru Manoel FOR the first time in Malta Te- atru Manoel is presenting, as part of the BOV Performing Arts Festival, a new production of 'Orphée et Eurydice' (1859 Ber- lioz revision) on March 16, 17, 19 and 20 March at 20:00. This Malta premiere is direct- ed by Denise Mulholland and features mezzo-sopranos Hadar Halevy and Lucia Cirillo sharing the male role of Orphée, Maltese soprano Gillian Zammit plays Eurydice and Francesca Aquilina plays Amour. The chorus is made up of predominantly Maltese singers. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra will be conducted by Philip Walsh and the production also features ŻfinMalta Dance Ensemble with choreography by Mavin Khoo. This new production will be re-imagined in the Victorian era and promises to be both mov- ing and visually striking. Artistic Director, Kenneth Zammit Ta- bona states, "Excerpts like The Dance of the Blessed Spirits and Que fais-Je sans Eurydice? have long become standard popu- lar fare and it is this familiarity with the opera that inspired us at the Theatre to produce our own interpretation of this glori- ous transitional opera on a stage that is eminently suitable to it. I can assure you that the pro- duction, in the hands of Denise Mulholland with stage design by Pierre Portelli and costumes by Luke Azzopardi, will leave you mesmerized, charmed and in- trigued." The opera will be sung in French with English surtitles and starts at 20:00. Ticket hold- ers can attend a pre-opera talk at 19:15. Tickets can be purchased from www.teatrumanoel.com.mt, by email to bookings@teatruma- noel.com.mt or tel 2124 6389 Gillian Zammit plays Eurydice Malta's Kickstarter kings return, try their luck at digital game MIGHTY Box is the Maltese game development studio behind Post- human, a post-apocalyptic survival board game that we very successfully crowdfunded last year. They have now launched another crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to adapt that board game into a new video game for Windows, OSX and Linux called Post- human: Sanctuary (http://tinyurl.com/ hl5xd3z). It is all about surviving the end of the world whilst keeping your humanity intact. The gameplay is part rogue-lite, with combat, team man- agement and exploration elements, and part interactive fiction, where the choices you make will weigh on your chances and shape your experience. The game story follows the journey of human protagonist in his quest to find a safe haven in a post-apocalyptic world where mankind's evolved suc- cessors have claimed the world. The narrative is constructed through the player's choices, adapting itself to your decisions, combined with fixed points (told in graphic novel-style segments) that slowly reveal the truth about the origins of the world of Posthuman. The visuals are drawn in a graphic novel style, which vividly bring this post-apocalyptic world to life. Mighty Box have teamed up with Danish electronic music legend Trentemøller and the game will fea- ture his music in the form of in-game tracks. The game has also been launched on Steam Greenlight, where Steam users can log in and vote for it to be eligi- ble for distribution on that platform (http://tinyurl.com/hx9m68f) For more information visit http:// www.mightyboxgames.com