Valletta development brief

If anything can prove that Valletta needs a watertight structure plan spread over a short period of time, it is these sudden irrational and sporadic bursts of energy in respect of projects which are frequently brought out of the airing cupboard on and off by successive governments.

The arguments brought forward by the government now are:

1. We need a Parliament building;

2. The opera house site is an available building space;

3. Hence we could build our Parliament there.

These outbursts prove that there is no serious holistic plan in respect of Valletta. Our politicians do not understand Valletta and the role it should play as a leading cultural capital city.

This argument has been tackled by several generations of politicians and the overwhelming response by the public over the past 60 years has always been in favour of rebuilding a theatre. It is just as though successive governments bring it out of the airing cupboard every so often in the hope that people will have forgotten what the decision might have been or else just maybe they might be too preoccupied with other issues.

Well we have not forgotten although, yes, we are very preoccupied and not least by the sudden turn of events and the realisation that the government is nothing more than a utilitarian consortium with no vision for culture and the arts.

This lack of vision has been amply proved by two major decisions taken by the two major parties in government during the 1990s.

The first colpo di grazia was when an official of the Education Division decided to stop all classical music concerts at the Manoel Theatre for state and private school children because "it was not worth taking children out of school to listen to a piece of Brahms".

The second colpo di grazia was the decision not to start operating the ballet school which had been painstakingly prepared complete with parquet. Need I say more?

Therefore we should not be discussing whether to build the theatre but when to build it. That has always been the issue and people have not forgotten.

We already have a culture centre. Remember St James Cavalier? It cost the taxpayer Lm4.5 million. As a culture centre it is perhaps filling a gap and creating space for the smaller drama productions, concerts, lectures and exhibitions but it can never create the space for the larger productions. However, it is possibly taking away or sharing with the Manoel Theatre what it is possible to produce on a small stage at the moment.

In the meantime, the government is spending more of my money on a feasibility study for the building of Parliament on the opera house site. We have it from the horse's mouth that the design will be based on "filosofija... tal-werqa".

If there is national consensus about anything it is about the ugliness of City Gate as it is now. In the 1960s the government was hell bent on celebrating Independence so it proceeded to destroy King's Gate alias Porta San Giorgio which had been remodelled by the British.

Now the government wants to make a 21st century statement. I wonder whether 50 years from now there will be national consensus about this architectural statement as well. The new building might well prove to be an architectural gem and I sincerely hope it will for the sake of Valletta. It might, however, well be another eyesore which will have to be pulled down 50 years from now. There is after all a proven track record. The post-war generations have given Valletta the ugliest buildings it has ever had.

I refer to what Paolo Portoghese, an eminent Italian architect, had to say about Valletta when he was delivering a lecture at the Italian Cultural Institute in September 2001. He had said: "qualunque cosa costruita nella città Valletta dev'essere fatta con molta gentilezza e con molta umiltà" (Whatever is built in Valletta must be done in a very gentle and humble manner).

As for the viability of the theatre, I have several ideas and suggestions to put forward all due to a vivid creative imagination which is a product of training in ballet, music and drama. The government is welcome to them. What's more, the government can have them all for free.