Live theatre in Malta is about to make its comeback with one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays to be performed in a lush open-air venue.

WhatsTheirNames Theatre will be the first to perform a show for a live audience as Malta emerges from a partial lockdown of a pandemic which practically decimated all cultural productions.

The venue chosen is the gardens of Villa Bologna in Attard, ironically a stone’s throw away from San Anton Gardens, where theatre company MADC has traditionally staged its annual Shakespeare productions for decades. This year’s MADC production has also been postponed because of COVID-19.

But another production company has forged ahead with the production and will be implementing the necessary anti-COVID-19 precautions for the performances between July 16 and 19. Audience members will be seated at tables of no more than six, with at least two metres between tables.

Temperature checks will be taken at the door and physical distancing will be in place in all areas where audience members congregate.

One of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, The Comedy of Errors is a farcical misadventure featuring two sets of twins who become embroiled in each other’s mishaps through a series of events that follow through on the play’s now idiomatic title.

Setting the stage for an evening of mistaken identities, Joseph Zammit and James Ryder will be playing both sets of twins, sometimes simultaneously, and are joined by London-based actors Becky Camilleri, Tina Rizzo, Gianni Selvaggi and Sandie Von Brockdorff.

This is an experiment in trying to reclaim that space, otherwise we’re essentially just always going to be watching television

“There’s nothing wrong with performing online but nothing beats the thrill of a live audience,” director Chris Gatt told Times of Malta.

“Right now, theatre communities all over Europe are debating how to move on and bring back performances with a live audience. This is an experiment in trying to reclaim that, otherwise we’re essentially just always going to be watching television.

The cast getting into a mood during the rehearsals of William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. Photo: Jacob Sammut.

“When doing a comedy especially, a live audience is invaluable, you need to have laughter, people reacting to what you’re saying and doing. This is one of Shakespeare’s shortest plays but it’s packed to the brim with a lot of silliness,” Gatt says.

“I think people need to laugh! And this play allows for a lot of silliness and a lot of laughter.”

WhatsTheirNames also have the additional challenge of mounting a lightning- quick production, with rehearsals only beginning earlier this week.

Performers have had to rely exclusively on running their lines on the Zoom platform to rehearse together while maintaining physical distance, with physical rehearsals starting next week.

While life after coronavirus did bring in new challenges, with their own advantages, the veteran director said despite everything, it was vital to keep performers performing.

“This island is blessed with more creativity than it should have for its size,” Gatt says.

“We’re practically the size of a small town and yet we’re brimming with exciting performers, visual artists and writers. We’re really blessed, and I think that is something to be celebrated and nurtured, or we run the risk of losing it entirely.”

Despite the hit the local creative industry took, with the entire summer calendar of shows, festivals and performances cancelled within weeks of the start of the pandemic, Gatt believes the way forward is getting back on the saddle.

“I always say that when it comes to doing something creative, unless you’ve got two hands tied behind your back and asked to swim, then you haven’t got a challenge.

“Obstacles are there to teach us how to do new things in different ways. If you’re going to constantly repeat things that you’ve done before, there’s no challenge, no creative stimulus, and that makes all the difference.

“Audiences come to the theatre because they know there is something of a challenge.”

“A tightrope walker is enthralling because there is the possibility of failure. Theatre is very similar in that there is a challenge that needs to be overcome, and part of the joy of witnessing from an audience is that the moments you are witnessing are unique and will never happen in quite the same way again.”