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maltatoday SUNDAY 10 DECEMBER 2017 30 This Week Creating the fairy-tale escape As Christmas Panto season gets underway, TEODOR RELJIC sits down for a chat with MADC's own artistic director Marylou Coppini, who has this year also taken charge of scripting duties for the company's annual panto – Cinderella How excited were you to get back to scripting panto, and why did you think Cinderella was a particularly good one to attempt? Yes, very excited, in fact. As artistic director of MADC, I have assessed and sometimes tweaked the scripts of other panto writ- ers and so I suppose I looked forward to the satisfaction of getting back to doing the job myself... though I had forgot- ten that tweaking other people's scripts is much easier than creating your own! But in the long run, I en- joy a challenge, and my fingers are crossed that I've succeeded in giv- ing the actors something good to work with – and with the director's input I'm almost positive that it re- ally is a super pantomime! I thought Cinderella was a par- ticularly good title to attempt be- cause it was time we returned to the fairy tale scene and since it's been a number of years since it was produced, why not go for the most popular story of all? As an actress, I also looked forward to re-mould- ing the colourful characters in this story – evil stepmothers, ghastly nasty stepsisters, handsome princ- es, fairy godmothers, and so on – and also, if the truth is to be told, I'm also an incurable romantic and what story is more romantic than Cinderella? What would you say are some of the fundamental 'rules' of writing panto, beyond the most obvious, established conventions that form an integral part of the panto tradition? I can tell you that the fundamen- tal rules that went through my mind as I tussled with this script over the past months were to make sure that the script flows smoothly, while having lots of variety and music and magic and also integrat- ing fun moments for audiences of all ages. Another thing to watch out for is making sure characters are well developed, making them seem as authentic as possible. And speaking of tradition, how would you describe the history of the MADC panto in particular? What kind of role would you say it has played in the Maltese theatre scene all these years? The club's first production was, in fact, a pantomime at the Manoel Theatre in 1910. But after that the club's pantomime was shelved for quite some time because, apart from two world wars (!) I suspect, the British services in Malta used to put on their own pantos which meant this particular niche was filled for English-speaking audi- ences of the time. I remember as a tiny child being taken to see my first pantomime, probably put on by members of the Royal Navy, at a theatre on Manoel Island in the early fifties (the building still stands). And it was not until the Ariel Players (from the Royal Air- force) started to put on pantos at the Manoel in the mid-seventies that the MADC decided to take over from these after their depar- ture from Malta. Cinderella in 1979 was the first of the current series of nearly 40 an- nual MADC pantomimes up to the present day. The role this tradition has played in the Malta theatrical scene has been tremendous. I think it is safe to say that the numerous pantomimes in both Maltese and English that are now taking place every Christmas in Malta have all branched out from the success of the MADC pantomime tradition. Apart from planting the seed for numerous pantos, it is also impor- tant to remember that for most children, panto is their very first theatre experience! Given how panto tends to also respond to topical prompts – while of course remaining lighthearted throughout – how did you choose to tackle the satirical element of it this time around, given the tumultuous events that occurred this year? As you say, panto is a lightheart- ed romp aimed at all the family. Troubles should be left at the the- atre door and audiences should relax by enjoying two hours of silliness. While panto has always had elements of social commen- tary, it was never the vehicle for hard-hitting satire, so we pepper topical jokes along with the rest. Having said that Panto is also a time when we pull each other's legs – including our own! What do you make of the local theatrical scene in general? What would you change about it? The local theatrical scene has widened enormously in the past ten years and it's good to see nu- merous new small groups vying with established companies to pro- duce plays of a high standard and experimenting with lesser known venues instead of the Manoel and Spazju Kreattiv since these two are now concentrating more on mu- "While panto has always had elements of social commentary, it was never the vehicle for hard-hitting satire" Marylou Coppini Double the dame(s): Michael Mangion (left) as Dulcey and Jean Pierre Busuttil as Duda Rachael Tedesco Triccas as Cinderella PHOTOGRAPHY BY SEBIO AQUILINA