World-renowned tenor Joseph Calleja was among the first to sign a petition urging Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to rethink his plans for an open-air theatre on the site of the former Royal Opera House in Valletta.
The roofless theatre was envisaged by Italian master-architect Renzo Piano as part of the City Gate regeneration project, which also includes a new entrance to the capital and a new House of Parliament for Freedom Square.
The petition has attracted 128 signatures in all, and a copy was duly despatched to the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday afternoon. Signatories include Peter Serracino Inglott, Felix Busuttil, Carmine Lauri, Alison White, Marcelle Theuma, Pia Zammit, John J. Schranz, Deborah MacNamara, Kenneth Zammit Tabone, Tony Cassar Darien, Vince Briffa, Adrian Buckle and Paul Xuereb.
Also taking up the cudgels against what he describes as an “open-air folly” is Maltese-Canadian stage and film director Mario Philip Azzopardi, who has urged more direct action, including a boycott of the venue if the petition is not heeded.
“I am proud to have signed the petition but as you all know, petitions are easily dismissed and forgotten,” he wrote yesterday in an email widely circulated among local theatre aficionados. “What is needed is more direct action. I propose that all the artists in Malta join together to promise and affirm that if the government will go ahead with the building of this venue – which clearly contravenes the needs and aspirations of the theatrical community in Malta and which has been arrogantly insisted upon by politicians without the consultation of the artistic community – then this same artistic community will declare that it will never participate, use, perform, or attend any performances of any kind in this venue.”
Azzopardi also wrote a letter to this newspaper on the same subject, printed separately on Page 14.
The Maltese-Canadian director, whose output includes Malta’s first full-length feature film il-Gagga (1971), a well as the popular TV sci-fi series Stargate, is adamant that the local theatre-going community will share his revulsion at the proposal to replace the Theatre Royal with an ‘open-air folly’.
“This theatre will never host Maltese artists and will be boycotted by the very community it is purported to serve. A public campaign will be organized to get the general public to co-operate by also boycotting the venue through education and public announcements explaining the reasons why such an action will be taken.”
Petition against roofless theatre This is the full text of the letter, signed by 128 actors, directors, authors, composers and performing artists, that was submitted to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday:
“The Hon. Prime Minister,
“As theatre practitioners, actors, musicians, dancers, singers, directors, choreographers, producers and crew who are actively involved in the performing arts and music scene in Malta, we strongly oppose your decision to retain a roofless theatre.
“We are also disappointed that the arguments presented and statements issued by numerous theatre practitioners have not been taken into consideration during the alleged consultation period.
“May we reiterate that the an open-air theatre in its proposed location is operationally challenging due to security measures imposed by any Parliamentary building, limited by weather conditions and also prone to noise pollution: both that which it produces, which can disturb people living in the neighbourhood, and the noise produced around it, such as fireworks, outside festivities, and other factors which can be a severe hindrance to performances.
“Theatre history has clearly demonstrated that the open-air concept has evolved from an acoustically perfect natural environment to a built arena that still managed to create a complete immersive and cathartic experience in a beautiful setting. We fail to see how the surrounding environment of the current space can retain this principle. This project also throws up a number of logistical and financial problems which will make the use of the space as likely and as successful as the use of our other Open Air theatre in Ta’ Qali.
“Contrary to your statement on arrival from your meeting with Renzo Piano last Friday, open-air theatre is not a new concept to Malta and with a tradition of open-air stage productions dating back to a hundred years, Maltese theatre practitioners have vast knowledge and experience in the pitfalls and opportunities of open-air experiences. Yet, this advice seems to have been totally ignored.
“The undersigned would like to emphasise that Malta still needs a fully-fledged purposely-built space for the performing arts that can cater for the needs of artists, which are not being addressed in the existing theatres such as poor acoustics, backstage facilities and modern amenities.
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