Looking For The Best Local Theatre On Offer This Weekend? Go For ŻiguŻajg
At the start of this month Malta’s theatre heavy-weights had a Facebook show-down for the most tl;dr post/comments in history. The back-and-forth was about the nature and state of theatre in Malta – if it’s an elitist niche, if art should be created for art’s sake, and a string of other grandiose naval-gazing arguments that took about three days to read through etc. It’s all good – passionate commenting is what we’re all about.
The most useful bit we took from it was that ŻiguŻajg – the children’s theatre festival – is probably one of the best success stories of local theatre to date. Actor, writer and director Malcolm Galea said:
“I think that the ŻiguŻajg model is a very good local example. Apart from importing a lot of foreign productions, it commissions just as many local ones. […] It’s no coincidence that Malta’s most exported plays are children’s plays that were originally developed for ŻiguŻajg. If the Arts Council and/or Spazju Kreattiv (or anyone else for that matter) can create a similar model that will foster the mass development of new theatre in general, I think we’d be on to a winner.”
Well – good news. The ŻiguŻajg festival is on until Sunday and it promises to deliver on both quality and variety.
ŻiguŻajg 2016 includes a series of world-renowned shows, along with re-adaptations of Maltese literature such as the 19th-century novel Ineż Farruġ, Anastasio Cuschieri’s poetry and Trevor Zahra’s stories. The 2016 programme has a strong multidisciplinary element to it – it’s got contemporary circus acts, clowning, shadow puppetry, dance, film, theatre and visual arts.
In it’s final couple of days, these are the performances you’ll be able to catch this weekend if you’re quick about booking tickets:
– Il-Babaw by More or Less Theatre – a puppetry show taking place at Studio B, St. James Cavalier.
– Home by ŻfinMalta; a dance act taking place at City Theatre.
– Hogwallops by LitCircus – Circus act at the Catholic Institute.
– Ineż kienet Perf(etta) by Studio 18 – Maltese theatre at St. James Cavalier.
– Boy and the World – a Portuguese film showing at the St. James Cavalier cinema.
– Sillu by Matthew Pandolfino – Street Art & Puppetry at St. George’s Square.
Enjoy the show(s)!