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maltatoday SUNDAY 28 JANUARY 2018 30 This Week In what amounts to a coup for Maltese theatre-lovers at home and away, veteran playwright, Alfred Buttigieg – most notable for the controversial The Priests' Revolt – has just published a volume of his four major works, translated in English. He speaks to TEODOR RELJIC about the memories these works dredge up, and delves into just why the 'Revolt' caused such a scandal when it was first staged First of all, how does it feel to have your complete works not only collected in one volume, but also translated into English? And how do the plays look and feel to you as a "whole" now that you have the luxury to see them all collected "in one place"? A few people who follow my work as well as the odd theatre- goer had approached me in the past to have my plays translated into English. They would argue that it would make my work ac- cessible to countries where Eng- lish is widely spoken. They would point out it was a pity that a for- eign director would be unable to work on a play of mine because of the language barrier. There are also many Maltese people who might prefer to read in English. I finally realised there was some sense in what they were telling me. Hopefully these translations will increase awareness of my plays, overcoming both the insu- larity imposed by the small num- ber of Maltese readers as well as the cultural limitations endemic to the Maltese theatre scene. By the way, they're not my com- plete works but only a collection of my four full-length plays, three of which were written in the past 10 years. I didn't include my one- act plays which were staged in the 80s, my prose works as well as other unpublished and unstaged plays. On that note, are there any particular memories attached to particular plays that "stick out" more than others? One would of course assume that an incendiary play like 'The Priests' Revolt' would have an impact, but do you perhaps have more intimate yet still powerful memories of the other works, both in terms of the initial writing and eventual staging? Michael Fenech first staged The Priests' Revolt (Ir-Rewwixx- ta tal-Qassisin) at the Manoel Theatre in 1986 under a Labour government. It was only months before the 1987 election. The parallels between what was hap- pening in the play and in Malta at the time were obvious to most people, especially to those Na- tionalist supporters who har- boured anti-government senti- ments. Unfortunately those same people who interpreted the play solely as an attack on the then La- bour government took offence at the programme note of the 2005 production, where I wrote that nothing had really changed under a Nationalist government except the faces. In Immanuel Mifsud's 2009 production of Ippermettili Nitlaq (Please, Let me Go) I remember watching the play for the first time during the dress rehearsal and feeling overwhelmed at the ending. Paul Xuereb in his review described that ending as one of the most heart-rending he has seen in a play by a Maltese author. On Malcolm Galea's produc- tion of 'On Minors, Midlife Cri- ses and Fast Motorbikes' I recall how the stage manager, Franco Rizzo, saved the day when he replaced one of the actors who fell ill a couple of days before the first night. Franco was some eight years too old for the part of a teenage schoolboy, but he was word-perfect and knew ex- actly what to do. Something I still find striking about that produc- tion is that of the three profes- sional critics who reviewed the play, none of them realised that the teenage girl's infatuation with her boyfriend's father was only a figment of the father's imagina- tion, though many members of the audience found it obvious. In one of the performances, Angele Galea, who played the female lead, tripped and fell. She carried on with the performance as if noth- ing had happened, but later found out she was already pregnant with her second child that night. For- tunately, it all turned out well. During Mela Hawn xi Man- ikomju (What is This a Mad- house?) I remember two things in particular. One was the dif- ficulty in casting an older actress for the part of Lina because of the foul language she used during the play. We finally settled for a much younger actress, Leigh-Ann Abela, which neither the director nor I regretted. A funny incident happened during one of the per- formances when Tyrone Grima, the director, decided to spice up the broth which we usually left to simmer during the performance to suggest that hospital smell to the audience. When the broth was given to the actresses playing the elderly patients on stage they almost choked on it and couldn't eat it. Speaking of The Priests' Revolt, could you delve into how and why it caused such a furore when it was first staged? What would you say that reaction said about Malta at the time? I think that for a mere play, there was quite a reaction at the time. The play was an attack on Mal- tese society, our parochial way of thinking, the way we do things, the Church which is always silent in times of need. The interesting thing was that both political par- ties interpreted it as an attack on the other party but not on their own. I had no sympathy for either party at the time, neither for the Labour Party which was running the country like some personal fiefdom nor for the Nationalist Party which was staging protests and demonstrations every week because it wouldn't accept the 1981 electoral result. The paral- lels of the time with the historical facts of the Priests' Revolt were there for everyone to see. One has to understand the peo- ple's mood in the '80s – the de- pendence on government to get a telephone line, a television set, a job. And for this, supporters felt indebted to the party and there- fore remained silent. The message I tried to convey was that political parties and politicians will always remain the same and that unless the common people united and stood up to them, nothing was going to change. Unfortunately nothing has changed since. Eve- ryone in Malta can still be easily bribed with the promise of jobs and political appointments while the Nationalists are still strug- gling with the fact that their party is not running the show. Perhaps Paul Xuereb's review of the play says it better than I can: 'Last Sunday's sizeable audience at the Manoel, a pre- dominantly young one, respond- ed with glee and delighted sur- prise to a work which is not only brilliantly conceived and skilfully constructed by also an ingenious- ly oblique, humorous and very thought-provoking commentary on contemporary politics in this country.' Although the book itself suggests a kind of "retrospective" look back at your career, its most recent entry is – well – as recent as 2016. Given that rich experience of Maltese theatre, what would you say have been some of the most significant developments in the field since you first started out, until now? There are definitely less restric- tions now that censorship has been removed. I remember when 'Ir-Rewwixta' was first staged the censor told us to remove the word 'cwiec' because it was considered vulgar. We said 'ok' but we left it as it was and actually nothing happened. Censorship persisted till 2012 if I remember correctly. When I staged Dwar Menopawsi in 2012, I was afraid it might be suppressed by the censors be- cause of its colourful language and you begin to wonder what the censors' benchmarks really were. In a way, I find Maltese thea- tre is still in an adolescent phase where producers are still anxious to 'shock for shock's sake' as it were. The way some plays are publicised emphasises the con- troversial element to attract au- diences. I feel on the other hand that Maltese theatre-goers have become more discerning and don't need sensationalism to en- joy and appreciate a theatre pro- duction. Another development is state funding for productions. However, it's a pity that some of the most mediocre Maltese plays in recent years have been the ones which got the most funding. On the whole, audiences have become more sophisticated, as I was saying, and demand their money's worth. This has resulted in making production costs much higher, though. So producers are a bit reluctant to stage plays in Maltese because costs have es- calated. Gone are the days when one could produce a play for the equivalent of €250. What do you make of the current crop of local theatre-makers, and are there any contemporary theatrical "trends" that you think are worthwhile or encouraging? The creation of Teatru Malta just recently, with Sean Buha- giar as its artistic director, is the best thing to happen in the na- tional theatre scene for quite a few years. Finally we have an entity that will coordinate a pro- "Nothing has changed since the '80s – everyone in Malta can still be easily bribed with the promise of jobs and political appointments while the Nationalists are still struggling with the fact that their party is not running the show" "It's a pity that some of the most mediocre Maltese plays in recent years have been the ones which got the most funding" One has to understand the peo- ple's mood in the '80s – the de- pendence on government to get a telephone line, a television set, a job. And for this, supporters felt indebted to the party and there- fore remained silent. The message I tried to convey was that political parties and politicians will always remain the same and that unless the common people united and stood up to them, nothing was ed with glee and delighted sur- prise to a work which is not only to 'shock for shock's sake' as it were. The way some plays are Alfred Buigieg The Collected Plays The Priests' Revolt Please Let me Go On Minors, Midlife Crises and Fast What is This, a Madhouse? Remembering the revolt Alfred Buttigieg