A Wedding, A Festa And A General Election: This New Maltese Play Sums Up Our Society In Two Hours
Let me present you with a hypothetical situation; you’re a parent and you have three children. Your oldest son is contesting for elections and the results are about to be announced, your daughter is getting married, and your other son is celebrating his village festa. All on the same day. And you have to go to all of them.
What do you do?
That’s the plot of the latest play to come from local author, playwright, director and actor Simone Spiteri; ‘Repubblika Immakulata‘
The play follows the Mercieca family as they navigate the craziest day in their lives; but that’s obviously not what the play is really about. The narrative is being used to drive home a message about Malta and the Maltese. The story is an amalgamation of observations that Simone has made about Maltese society.
And because of this, the play is full of recognisable characters that will remind everyone of all the “typical” Maltese people we meet every day.
Franklin
Franklin’s life revolves around the village festa and his fireworks. On Saturday morning, he leaves the house to join the marċ, but returns escorted by the police.
Will he manage to let his fireworks go after all his work?
Petra
Petra has been saving up and planning for her wedding for the past three years.
But now, anything that could go wrong is going wrong. Her brothers are too obsessed with politics and fireworks. And her fiancé is more concerned with his work life than his family life.
David
David is the only one of his siblings to have graduated.
And now, he’s trying his luck during the general election. But it seems his older brother Franklin is doing all her can to put a spoke in his wheels and ruin everything.
Anon
The story of the Mercieca family comes to an end with Anon, with a sour tongue and sarcastic tone who is hardly present.
He is an enigma, difficult to define.
Uncle Horace
Uncle Horace returned from Canada because he couldn’t settle down there.
At the moment, his life is all about his niece, Petra.
Albert
A contractor with lots of money.
He sets his daughter up with David, who is a candidate of his favourite party. He’s tied David to his daughter, but that’s not all…
Hannah
Hannah has had her life sorted for her by her contractor-father.
Her life revolves around whatever she needs to do to look good, especially now that she has to pose for the cameras during her boyfriend’s electoral campaign.
Cherokee
Cherokee is a single mother of young boy.
She lives with her mother but is overloaded with work to keep up with her cost of living.
Ir-Rennie
Ir-Rennie is a show-off who is as lazy as can be.
He’s recently made friends with Franklin and is trying to help him overcome his problems.
Jean Paul
Jean Paul is Petra’s fiancé.
He doesn’t speak much, works four part-time jobs and isn’t quite sure what he’s doing with his life.
Repubblica Immakulata is a co-production by Dù Theatre and Spazju Kreattiv
And will be performed between the 29th and 31st of March, and the 5th and 7th of April at 8pm, at Spazju Kreattiv. You can book tickets here.