Writer and actor Malcolm Galea clearly remembers the magical feeling he experienced during the first ever panto he saw.

“My aim every time I perform in a panto is to inject anyone experiencing this kind of theatre for the first time with that same feeling I once felt while sitting way up in the gallery with my eyes firmly transfixed on the stage,” he says.

“After working on seven pantos in a row, I got some serious withdrawal symptoms during the pandemic and I can’t wait to show what we’ve been working on, as Ċikku and the Chocolate Panto comes together,” Galea continues.

This year’s long-awaited panto is twice as much fun and work for him as he not only wrote it but will also be gracing the stage in the role of Dame Desserta.

Inspired by Roald Dahl’s classic story, Ċikku and the Chocolate Panto follows the adventures of Ċikku and his mother Dame Desserta. Sadly, the latter is an aspiring actress who mostly gets paid in exposure, which means that her son is forced to work to support them both.

“Dame Desserta’s life is a difficult one but, thankfully, she catches a break when Willy Wonder’s Chocolate Panto comes to town and she wins an opportunity to visit it for free,” Galea says.

“With her luck changed, she might even be able to make enough money to change the giant bajtra where she lives into a block of flats and a large swimming pool. Sorry, I meant to say agricultural vaska.”

Writing a panto and playing one of the main roles in the same production would be daunting for anyone but not for Galea. He sees the two jobs as being quite distinct from each other and feels that one feeds the other.

“Each role is challenging in its own right but combining them doesn’t necessarily make the process any more difficult since they take place at different times,” he says.

The panto is a magical, crazy and funny Christmas experience for all the family

“The writing is done during the summer while rehearsals start in October. If anything, writing lines for yourself is a bit easier, while being on stage enables you to regulate the energy. Panto audiences are typically made up of children and adults looking after said children, so you need a dynamic script and energetic performances to hold everyone’s attention.”

Galea wrote his first panto of many in 2003, most of which were produced by Masquerade. His collaboration with the theatre company and its co-founder, Anthony Bezzina, who will be directing this year’s production, goes back many years.

“I’ve been working with Tony since the start of my career and I really enjoy the process,” Galea says.

“Every playwright’s nightmare is that a director will go rogue with their script and make a mess of it. A bad enough production can set a writer back a couple of years, so you need to choose wisely when picking whom to work with. Tony has always been incredibly respectful in this regard and he’s very trusting of the material. He works similarly with the musical director, choreographer, set designer and other creatives and makes everyone feel that their vision is an integral part of the project.”