As part of the Week of the Italian Language in the World, the Italian Cultural Institute is today staging Come un Granello di Sabbia (Like a Grain of Sand), written and directed by Salvatore Arena and Massimo Barilla of theatre company Mana Chuma Teatro.

The plot is based on the real-life story of Giuseppe Gulotta, a young construction worker, who at the age of 18 was arrested and forced to confess to the murder of two policemen in Alcamo, a small barracks in the province of Trapani, Sicily.

The crime hid an unspeakable mystery: secret services and statesmen who deal with neo-fascist groups, arms trafficking and drugs. In order to cover up the silence, any scapegoat would do.

Gulotta spent 22 years locked up in jail for a crime he did not commit and 36 years of legal hell.

The contemporary theatre company is mainly engaged in social theatre and new dramaturgy. Its latest performance, Come un granello di sabia, was among the winners of the prestigious Premio Selezione In-box 2016.

This performance is the last chapter of the quadrilogy A Sud della Memoria that Mana Chuma has devoted to the recent history of southern Italy. 

The play is being staged through a collaboration with Arts Council Malta, Teatru Malta, School of Performing Arts − University of Malta and the Fondazione Giuseppe Gulotta.

The show, rated 12, is being staged in Italian with English surtitles at the Valletta Campus Theatre, in St Paul Street, Valletta, today at 8.30pm. For tickets, log on www.kultura.mt.