My New Life in Malta

I have been attending rehearsals nearly every day until very late. They are going well, and I am really enjoying the whole thing. I am becoming friendly with the cast, and it is a great experience to see how quickly the play is taking shape. Just last week nobody seemed to know his or her lines, but tonight the characters and feelings really came through.

I will now shamelessly use the blog to publicise the play, so… those of you living in Malta, log on to:

http://www.teatrumanoel.com.mt/

…and book your tickets now for “The End of the Affair” on January 19, 20 or 21! The play is based on Graham Greene’s novel of the same name, and many of you might have seen the film version starring Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore.

There is an interesting coincidence for me here. “The End of the Affair” was the very first film I ever watched on DVD, when the switch from video cassettes was just beginning to take place. And now, it will be the very first professional stage production in which I take part. Spooky, no?

The actors are really top-notch, and the more I see them rehearse, the more I think they will put on stellar performances. So I highly recommend it to all my Maltese readers! I do not actually get to speak a single word, but you do get a chance to see me come on stage about a dozen times playing various background roles. Keeping track of all the costume changes will be quite a challenge, but it is going to be a lot of fun!!

The year has started out with a most unexpected and, for lack of a more sophisticated word, totally cool experience.

I mentioned earlier how much I enjoy theatre and how, after watching several good performances here in Malta, I was feeling inspired to try my hand at it (I used to be actively involved with the theatre group in my school days, but I never continued on to professional experience). A few days ago I brought this up to a friend whose father is a theatre director (I am trying to keep people in this blog anonymous, but the way Malta is, I am afraid everyone will figure this one out very quickly). I really was just mentioning it with no expectations or ulterior motives. But a couple of days ago my friend tells me to show up at her father’s rehearsals the next day.

M helped me find the rehearsal place and I walked in to find the director and two of the actors going through a scene. I was introduced to them as someone interested in theatre who will be attending the rehearsals and taking part in the background scenes!! This was news to me as well, and I could hardly believe it! Over the last few days I have been meeting the rest of the cast and began to practice the crowd scenes. The director is treating me very nicely, and I basically get to watch the whole experience from beginning to end. Just yesterday the production assistant told me that the extras did not need to show up today, but the director protested and said that I am to be there every day to learn from him. I was just floored!

Sometimes life hands you opportunities that seem to come out of nowhere, and you just have to take them! If all goes well, in a couple of weeks I will have my debut in my first professional theatre play, on the stage of the XVIII century Manoel Theatre, which dates from the time of the Knights of Malta!

So, it turns out a few Maltese bloggers got together for the “2nd Annual Maltese Blog Awards” which, I assume, they have been doing every year since… last year! I just found out that I was nominated for two categories: Theme Blog, and Best English Language Blog. Unfortunately I did not win, but how exciting that I was even nominated! And I was even considered to be a Maltese blogger!

Of course, I am always the last one to find out these things, but better late than never!

The entire award list can be seen here.