The Great Dictator by Charlie Chaplin is part of the old Hollywood canon, and you can find it on every must-watch film list from IMDb to the Criterion Collection.

The 1940 classic film is still dearly beloved today because of Chaplin’s brazen decision to tackle the violence of fascism and the rampant discrimination of Jews in Nazi Germany by turning it into a slapstick comedy.

While filming the movie, Chaplin was well aware of Hitler’s antisemitism and wrote the film as a warning against fascism, even though he only found out about the full scale of Hitler’s violence after the war.

The play The Great Dictator, by Nikolai Azzopardi Productions, also made its debut during a politically charged period.

The play debuted just a few weeks after an MEP election that saw a significant swing to the right by the continent. Azzopardi, who is making his debut as a producer with this production, like Chaplin, also wanted the play to serve as a warning against the pitfalls of populism and to remind people that fascism is not something that exists solely in the past but raises its ugly head even today.

The strength of The Great Dictator is that it manages to tackle the duality of the fear and power of fascism through humour. The cast of the play managed to show this duality beautifully, not just because the six members played multiple roles.

This was largely due to the consistent comic timing throughout the production, thanks to the influence of the award-winning Malcolm Galea, who adapted and directed the play.

It is no easy feat adapting iconic screen characters to the stage, especially when those characters were created in the post-silent-film era where melodrama was king and physical comedy was queen – two techniques that are not too popular with contemporary performers because having to overact or push an act to the extreme often goes against contemporary training.

Unfortunately, this lack of training was occasionally noticeable, such as when one character hit another on the head with a frying pan. The performer whose head was ‘hit’ reacted in a composed and reserved fashion that would have fit better in a Scandinavian drama than in a slapstick comedy.

The two performers who stole the show were Jamie Cardona and Jeremy Grech. Grech displayed his comedic prowess in the depiction of the restrained, orderly Garbitsch, who served as the perfect straight man to Cardona’s petulant Hynkel.

Tackles the fear and power of fascism through humour

But Grech really managed to make the audience laugh out loud several times as Commander Schultz who sounded like a BBC radio broadcaster from the 1940s and had the comic timing of a seasoned actor in a Jeremy Lloyd BBC production from the 1980s.

Cardona, who already had an incredible showing this year with the debut of his solo play Mid-Djarju ta’ Student fi Skola tal-Knisja, played the two title roles in the play: Hynkel, the Hitler-like dictator, and the Barber.

His performances have a wonderfully playful physicality, and he seamlessly transforms from the naïve, kind and brave Barber to the power-hungry, spoiled, overgrown child that is Hynkel.

Furthermore, the scene where he danced with the balloon globe was beautifully choreographed and elegantly performed, but his final speech scene was a revelation and the highlight of the play.

Another person who deserves a shout-out for their work is Caroline Curmi. Curmi, the costume designer for the production, faced the challenge of coordinating multiple costumes for such a small cast while ensuring they were easy to put on and take off.

The cast had no costume stumbles throughout the performance, except for a few moments when Cardona’s classic Chaplin moustache temporarily tried to escape from his face.

The play was held at the Valletta Campus Theatre, which might be a smidge too big as a venue. Considering the cast size, a more intimate venue might be better suited should it be restaged. The production design by Francesca Mercieca was simple and effective.

There was a heavy use of the colour grey for the Jewish Ghetto to help depict their dismal reality. The set design was limited but versatile, able to easily transport the viewer from Hynkel’s palace to a barbershop in seconds.

The only aspect that could have been improved in the production was the lighting and sound effects. In a production where the cast is so small and the set design is limited, the light and sound must do more heavy lifting to set a scene.

Unfortunately, this was lacking, and as a result, key moments fell a little flat. For example, when the barber’s shop is blown up by Hynkel’s storm troopers, all that is shown is a quick flash of light and a low-volume bomb sound. The effects needed to be more over the top to match the melodrama at hand.

The Great Dictator was a pleasure to watch, and I hope it gets restaged. The play served as the warning and stark reminder Azzopardi hoped for, but it also had us belly laughing in our seats. This may be the first of Azzopardi’s productions, but I definitely hope it isn’t the last.