To desire is human. We all have wants, needs, wishes. Yet, the path to what we yearn for is not the same for everyone. Sometimes that path is obstructed, sometimes we might feel like there is no bridge to the other side, sometimes we might feel completely alone in wanting and reaching out for it. Sometimes you must forge ahead and just be fabulous.
Since January 2021, award-winning playwright Simone Spiteri and theatre director and producer Toni Attard have been co-creating a new theatre production with artists from Opening Doors – Malta’s arts organisation for people with intellectual disabilities. Is-Siġra tat-Tin is an inclusive theatre work that intertwines the artists’ own dreams like the roots of a fig tree that grow down to the forest floor. Through movement and dramatic scenes co-created by the artists, in Maltese and English, the performers share their own stories and aspirations with the audience.
The production to be held from the 1st to the 3rd October will be performed by 10 artists from Opening Doors and 3 guest actors who are well known in Maltese theatre and television. The cast is composed of Cheyenne Aquilina, Caroline Bajada, Angela Bettoni, Sharon Bezzina, Denise Camilleri, Kurt Castillo, Peter Fenech, Benjamin Grech, Sarah Micallef, Jacob Piccinino, Justin Spiteri, Kal Wirth and Mark Zammit Cutajar.
‘We worked intensively with the performers through workshops in movement, creative writing and improvisation to develop a script that is built on the wonderful material created by each performer’, said Toni Attard.
This process reflects the Association’s ethos to promote creative processes and artistic skill with adults with intellectual disabilities in processes that facilitate the creation of their own work and aesthetic.
‘Through our work we want to provide the performers with a creative space that empowers them to take ownership of their work and process. This production adds a new dynamic to our work with the inclusion of guest artists to the process’, said the Association’s artistic director, Ilona Baldacchino.
This production will also mark Opening Doors’ physical return to the theatre since the pandemic forced all of its activity to shift online.
Tickets starting from EUR12 are available from www.kreattivita.org
Is-Siġra tat-Tin is supported by Spazju Kreattiv and produced by Culture Venture within the project AMASS University of Malta Acting on the Margins: Art as Social Sculpture, partnered in Malta by the Department of Arts, Open Communities, and Adult Education, within the Faculty of Education. AMASS received financial support from the research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 of the European Union under agreement nr 870621. Is-Siġra tat-Tin is part of an arts programme created by Culture Venture and supported by Arts Council Malta.
