Roofless theatre no substitute for opera house – FAA
Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar yesterday questioned the reasoning behind Italian architect Renzo Piano’s plans to retain a roofless theatre on the site of the former Opera House.
In a statement, the conservationist NGO said it could not understand the reasoning behind the roofless theatre proposal, calling it “a budgetary compromise which will limit its use in winter as well as in summer when Valletta is subjected to festa noise four days a week.”
The NGO said Piano’s “interesting concept” would still remain just a performance space rather than a theatre equipped with rehearsal rooms and facilities that would foster cultural life.
FAA said performances would also be disturbed by the private functions held regularly in the public gardens, the summer festival at the Argotti gardens, the Isle of MTV and other concerts on the granaries, the Jazz Festival and 21st September celebrations.
“The Ta’ Qali open theatre is no longer used because the noise created by the flight path above disrupts performances. Inclement weather in winter will make the theatre unusable for most of the season leaving only a narrow timeframe to generate a return on the capital investment and to cover year-round maintenance.”
FAA cited tenor Joseph Calleja’s lament on the proposal, who said it was not the best solution because of the inherent limits of a roofless theatre. “We cannot but question the cost-effectiveness of such a major investment on a performance space that can only be used during a few months when the weather is mild and even then there will always be the risk of a performance being disturbed by noise,” the NGO said.
FAA also said the lack of a national theatre was a lacuna in the cultural scene, when compared to the presence of national theatres in underdeveloped countries such as Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia, Niger, Senegal and Ghana.
“Additionally, if small, provincial American towns such as Norfolk (Virginia), Cedarville (Ohio), Rochester (New Hampshire), Green Lake (Wisconsin), Elkader (Iowa) and Sumter (South Carolina) take great pride in their opera houses/theatres and successfully run varied theatrical programmes throughout the year, should not the same hold for Malta which is a nation, not a community?”
FAA added that a roofless theatre would exclude school groups from attending performances “or listening to Malta’s homeless Philharmonic orchestra” since schoolchildren cannot be expected to sit through performances on wet or cold winter days.
FAA suggested that Malta could tap EU funds for the rebuilding of a proper national theatre in Malta.
The group also deplored the scorn poured on critics of the Piano plans. “Theatres rebuilt in the original architectural style include La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice as well as the theatres of Bari, Messina and Frankfurt even though the latter was rebuilt after a considerable number of years.
“The conflicting message being given is that the rebuilding of a destroyed structure is valid at Manoel Island, but will be a fake in Valletta and that the style of the Barry Opera House does not match Valletta’s Baroque buildings but that a modern parliament on stilts will be suitable within the same context.”
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