Plastic & Chicken Bones, a play researched, written and performed by Malcolm Galea, will be staged at Blue Box Theatre, Msida, from February 16-18.

The play had previously won the award for Best Newcomer when it was staged at the Brighton Fringe in 2022 and tackles ideas such as the challenges of technological advancements, climate change and geopolitics in a high-concept solo performance.

“Some of the biggest challenges that our species faces at present are global warming, the threat of a world-wide conflict, and the misuse of artificial intelligence,” says Galea, speaking to Times of Malta.

“When we talk about the large-scale ecological damage caused by humans, we often say that we’re destroying the world. However, the truth is that by making the planet uninhabitable, we’re only destroying ourselves.”

Despite all this, says the actor, the world will keep spinning with or without us and can recover from extinction events that humankind cannot. In a few million years, he says, the world can eradicate all evidence of our existence “save for a thin layer of concrete, plastic and chicken bones in the earth’s crust”.

The play imagines the human species still exists two thousand years in the future and how it had to adapt to the changes that have been made.

The truth is that by making the planet uninhabitable, we’re only destroying ourselves

“I imagined the world to be a utopia – albeit with darkly sinister undertones. The humans of the future are free and happy – although not necessarily in a way that we would consider to be either free or happy. Similarly, since we spend our lives working and ultimately die, they wouldn’t consider us to be free or happy either,” he says.

The show is directed by Denise Mulholland, with the upcoming production at Blue Box Theatre featuring a new soundscape by Aleandro Spiteri Monsigneur. The show is set to launch the Give or Take Productions season before touring internationally once more.

“Our next stop is a return to Brighton Fringe,” says Galea.

A scene from a previous production of Plastic & Chicken Bones. Photo: Peter Williams

“The show has already done well there so we’ll be looking to build up on the momentum. We will also be using it as an icebreaker to introduce our other show The Trials of Magnus Coffinkey which will be following a week later at the same venue. After that we have our eyes on a number of other art and science festivals, but we’ll be playing it by ear as it depends on a number of factors such as funding and how the show performs at each milestone.”

Being a dystopian social commentary, the show may be quite confronting for some.

“The aim of the story is to generate discussion and it seems to be doing just that,” says the actor.

“Following our Brighton performances in 2022, the conversation at the nearby pub was uncharacteristically philosophical. People have also continued the conversation on blogs and messages. A reviewer described it as ‘Brave New World meets Black Mirror’ and it was pretty much on point.”

Plastic & Chicken Bones will be staged at Blue Box Theatre, Msida, from February 16-18. For more information bluebox.com.mt.