L-Għarusa, described by its author Ġużè Diacono as a mystical play, will return to the stage this October after a 30-year absence. The one-act play, considered one of the most significant theatrical works of the Maltese corpus, centres on the mystical experiences of its main character, Sister Wistina.
The production by the national theatre company Teatru Malta, in co-production with Heritage Malta, is set to be staged at the Knights’ Armoury in Vittoriosa between October 21-23 and 25-31.
First staged at the Manoel Theatre in 1963, the play tells the story of the mental and emotional torments of Sister Wistina, who swears herself into sisterhood after witnessing her beloved drown before her eyes. This trauma causes her to lose touch with reality, deluding herself into confusing her deceased beloved with Jesus Christ.
Ġużè Diacono
The playwright and critic Diacono was born in Valletta in 1912 and is considered one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century in Malta, writing several plays, novels and works of literary criticism.
He joined Allied Newspapers in 1938 where he occupied several editorial posts on the Times of Malta and Il-Berqa and was also the editor of The Sunday Times of Malta before resigning in 1966. He was also a lecturer of Maltese literature at the University of Malta and a council member of L-Akkademja tal-Malti and the Commission for the Standardisation of Maltese.
The writer and critic Ġużè Diacono. Photo: Wikimedia CommonsAmong his academic works is a compilation in five volumes of the Dizzjunarju Ingliż-Malti – an adapted and revised expansion of Dun Karm Psaila’s dictionary.
Diacono remains best known for his dramatic works, with which he exposed the scene to new frontiers, earning him a reputation as a provocative figure. Among his most controversial works is the television serial Il-Madonna taċ-Ċoqqa (1979) which raised many an eyebrow for depicting an affair between the protagonist Rita and the religious novice Mariano.
In 1997, Diacono was made a member of the National Order of Merit by former president Ugo Mifsud Bonnici for his contribution to society. He died a week before turning 90 in 2002.
A new interpretation
This latest staging of L-Għarusa is set to commemorate the playwright’s 110th birthday and the 20th anniversary of his death.
The upcoming production is described as a free adaptation of Ġużè Diacono’s original by writer and thinker Immanuel Mifsud, bearing some differences in plot and accentuations of certain themes read into the work.
Love, in all its forms, is that in which the human finds fruition
“Sister Wistina had a traumatic experience and suffers from PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], and because of this, envisions that she has an amorous relationship with Jesus Christ,” explains Mifsud, who is directing the play in his first directorial role since 2008.
He says that the basis of the free adaptation of Diacono’s play is a consideration of the works of many female mystics of the past, such as Teresa of Ávila and Hildegard of Bingen.
Sister Wistina swears herself into sisterhood after witnessing her beloved drown before her eyes. Photo: Ritty Tacsum“The adaptation is taken from the context of the many mystics of the renaissance and medieval period, who too would write considerably about their relationship with Christ,” he says.
“I am not sure whether Diacono himself was as aware of this dimension.”
The adaptation therefore centres on Sister Wistina’s relation of love, typical of such mystical experiences.
The renowned international artist Austin Camilleri, who is designing the production, says that he is using devices such as shades of white, religious iconographies and bridal veils as his main building blocks to represent the mystical dimension of L-Għarusa.
“The Knights’ Armoury in Birgu is a beautiful, albeit very challenging, space,” says the artist. “I’m using its architecture to create a monastical environment.”
Camilleri explains that he is devising three main areas for the set, namely a devotional space outside of the main building, an ora et labora entrance hall and the actual performing space, where he says fabric defines physical and emotional chambers, creating a hazed space that clears itself the more the play proceeds.
“With Immanuel, I’m also entertaining ambiguity, and thus, as opposed to the props and costumes, I’m designing the set and lights to be less literal,” says Camilleri.
Rehearsals for ‘L-Għarusa’ currently underway. Photo: Elisa von BrockdorffMifsud explains that he had also taken as a point of departure the fact that Diacono makes reference to the biblical book Song of Songs, which he says is a controversial book due to its erotic nature.
Despite the overlap between Sister Wistina and the mystics of old, Mifsud emphasises that the character is one who is suffering from trauma.
“I want to stress that Diacono’s Wistina is not the same as St Teresa, for example – she is not an ascetic mystic. Rather, she is a person suffering from PTSD.
“In the adaptation, we have a running line of thought throughout the play that considers love, in all its different forms, to be that in which the human being finds fruition (il-milja tal-bniedem),” he says, saying that the changes in plot present in the upcoming adaptation are in keeping with this premise – that religious life and the love that stems within it are not contradictory.
L-Għarusa by Ġużè Diacono will be staged at the Knights’ Armoury in Vittoriosa between October 21-23 and 25-31 and is produced by Teatru Malta in co-production with Heritage Malta and supported by Fondazzjoni Ċelebrazzjonijiet Nazzjonali and Arts Council Malta.