On October 27, the Maltese cultural world was shocked by the demise of Margaret Agius, a household name in the Maltese cultural field.  

Her love of acting and literature were driving forces throughout her life.  Her diverse talents defined her career.  

Margaret is locally known for writing and acting in the PBS TV series Nibqgħu Hekk and L-Aġenzija, which she also directed as well as her roles in the TV series Cirkostanzi, Ħażen u Mrar, Tereża, Gizelle, Katrina, Żafira and Kuġinti Rakele.

Early years

Margaret was born in Mackay, Queensland, Australia in 1952, where she spent her first formative years, In 1960, the family settled in Malta.  She graduated as a secondary school teacher, specialising in English Language and English Literature.   She also taught English as a foreign language in language schools.

At the age of 16, she was chosen by the Lyceum for their annual Shakespeare and was given the part of Lady Macbeth.  At the age of 17, her philosophy and Maltese tutor Prof. Oliver Friggieri cast her in a leading role in Iż-Żjara which the author Francis Ebejer co-directed.

During a TV programme some years back.

That same year she was given the opportunity to participate on rediffusion in Beat u Letteratura and Mill-Ġnejna Maltija and also contributed to Ittra Ittra on television.

Agius pursued her studies in drama and obtained a diploma from the Manoel Theatre Academy of Dramatic Art.  

Her talent was immediately awarded with leading roles in The Good Woman of Setzuan, Blood Wedding, Lysistrata and The Man of Destiny. The famous RADA director and author Adrian Rendle who also happened to be one of her tutors and drama school director wrote a monologue for her Happy Couples Ltd which she interpreted with comic verve.

In 1981 Agius won the Best Actress Award in the Malta Golden Knight Film Festival with the film Beyond the Gate.

Work on TV and radio

Acting and broadcasting were very close to her heart.  She was given opportunities to show her talents both on TV and radio as a presenter, reader and as an actress. For many years Margaret was a regular contributor to the TV cultural programme Priżma. 

Margaret, earlier this year, during the filming of the TV series 'Sorelle'.

Another programme shown on PBS was Artisti Maltin where she interviewed some of the best artists in Malta, to mention a few, Vincent Apap, Josef Kalleya, Antoine Camilleri, Esprit Barthet, Gabriel Caruana and George Fenech. 

In 1978 she read the Rumanż on Television Malta in the series Mill-Lampa u l-Faxxikli. She was also the first female reader of the Rumanż on Radio Malta. 
Agius worked as a producer and presenter for 10 years on The Voice of the Mediterranean radio station which advertised Maltese culture and transmitted all over the world.

One of the literary evenings.

Her favourite programme was her Sunday show Valletta Calling. Margaret interviewed people from different walks of life and one of her programmes The Song Festivals, gave her the opportunity to interview not only talented Maltese singers but also international singers like Boyzone, Nek, Katrina and the Waves, The Olsen Brothers, Jalisse, Johnny Logan, Eimar Quinn, the Norwegian group Secret Garden among many others.

Margaret loved talking about Maltese anthropology and did this through literature; Lost Letters by Nicholas de Piro was an example of one series of programmes.

She loved doing radio and did a lot of work for Campus FM. Apart from the various literary programmes she participated in, she acted in many radio plays where she played major roles in Hedda Gabler, The Lady from the Sea, Therese Raquin among so many others. 

Literary evenings

Margaret’s love for acting and literature enabled her to contribute to various literary evenings. In fact, together with Dr Paul Xuereb she used to read both in the annual British Cultural Association Literary Evenings where excerpts from Shakespeare were enacted and also in the annual BCA Christmas Evenings dedicated to literature.  

In 2000 she was chosen by international mime artist Arturo Brachetti to perform the Oscar Wilde character Lady Bracknell from the play The Importance of Being Earnest. 

(From left) Margaret, Katrina (of Katrina and the Waves) and Margaret’s husband, Raymond.

Margaret was very proud of the Maltese language and had very high regard for Maltese writers and their works. She was a regular reader at The Razzett tal-Markiz annual Good Friday Literary Evenings where she sometimes also used to read her own poetry.    

She expressed herself as a writer in both English and Maltese.  She had her poetry published in the collective anthology IL-Kelma li Tmantni ir-Ruħ. In June 2019, Margaret published an anthology of poems Il-Mitħna f’Tarf it-Triq.
       
Margaret leaves to mourn her loss her husband Raymond, her daughter Greta and her husband Jean, her son Rudi and her grandchildren Matteo and Luc.