Simon Bartolo’s latest play toys with the theme of memories. There are twists in the plot he does not want to reveal, but Veronica Stivala tries to untangle the mysterious plot.

Simon Bartolo is a man of mystery. I will never forget the time we worked together on our play Drowning Lilies and he convinced the entire cast that Edmund Zanter was a poet who actually existed and whose poems he was using for the play. Bartolo had written them himself.

An equally hazy shroud of mystery surrounds the writer with regards to his latest creation, a play entitled Tikber u Tinsa (You grow up and forget). The synopsis of this play tells us that this is the story “of a son who never really understood his place in the big plan of life that he designed for himself”. What does this mean? How does anyone design their lives?

Bartolo explains that “it is impossible to explain that sentence without spoiling the plot, at least partially. It is a purposely ambiguous sentence because it had to be vague enough to arouse curiosity but weighted enough to make sense after seeing the play”.

Bartolo is a natural storyteller and evidently enjoys the suspense and allure that a mystery story brings with it.

“There’s twists in this play that I do not want to reveal,” he comments. But, he continues, “the best way I can attempt to explain is by saying that the play’s main character, Albert Chetcuti, is oblivious to certain milestones in his life that have moulded him. Together with his younger self, he goes on a journey of self-discovery.”

Memories and travelling back in time are a recurring trait in Bartolo’s work. For instance, his recent play Għajn Eye Three, told the story of a group of teachers who find themselves all inextricably linked with a common person who existed in the past.

The difference though, Bartolo points out, is that Tikber u Tinsa is not a ghost story, as was Għajn Eye Three. He reveals he is “particularly interested in the concept of time and the way our lives can only move forward and yet our thoughts keep going back to previous accomplishments, regrets, events”.

Indeed, it is curious how thoughts, and memories, are apparently contradictory to the linear narrative of our lives.

As the themes became increasingly serious, he realised he was holding back from expressing himself freely

“It seems that our brain is wired in a way that defies the forward movement of time because it clings on to past occurrences. I find this fascinating.” It truly is.

While Bartolo worked with a concept that had long intrigued him, Tikber u Tinsa was actually a commissioned play. Early in 2014, he was approached by what he describes as “two talented actors”, whom he had worked with previously. These were Clive Piscopo and Jamie Cardona and they had an idea for a play and wanted Bartolo to write it. The idea was about a 30-year-old man who had a conversation with his 15-year-old self. That was the beginning of this journey.

Bartolo then took that idea and mulled over it for a few months. He had started work on his new novel (its working title is The Very Last Night) by then, so he tried to push the play to the back of his mind. “But it just kept coming right back up with questions. What if there’s a deep, dark secret in this man’s past that actually happened after he was 15, so even though both characters are the same man, one of them knows things that the other one doesn’t? And what if it goes further than that?”

These thoughts got him all excited till he just had to write the play.

The process behind the way Bartolo wrote the play is interesting, as he initially started out with a humorous two-hander where a man discovers how at odds he is with his previous self.

The script was simply supposed to make children think about growing up and adults to consider how better it would have been to stay young. However, Bartolo has a tendency to stray towards the dark side of things.

And, as the themes became increasingly serious, he realised he was holding back from expressing himself freely on certain topics like death because he kept imagining children sitting in the audience. So he discussed this with Piscopo and they decided together that, because of its potentially disturbing nature, the play would benefit from being bolder if the audience was more mature. It now has a suggested rating of 13.

Writing the play was, of course, only part of the project and I’m curious to learn how important it is for Bartolo have a say in the way his plays come to life once they are written.

The process is different for each play, he confides. In the case of Tikber u Tinsa, he decided from the beginning that he would just be the writer and let the team surprise him.

“I obviously wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t trust them. Roderick Vassallo is directing it and I am confident that he will do a great job. I also have no doubts about the actors’ ability,” he says.

Bartolo is actually based in Brussels, where he is working with his theatre group Aleateia on their new play, The Drooming, for this year’s ŻiguŻajg children’s festival. He will come to Malta for a weekend so he can see Tikber u Tinsa for the first time on the opening night, just like the rest of the audience.

“I like to be surprised,” he says. Bartolo has had absolutely no contact with the team after he wrote it and doesn’t know how his text is being interpreted. How exciting. Or scary.

Tikber u Tinsa runs from Thursday to Sunday at 8 pm at St James Cavalier, Valletta. Tickets are available online.

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