“You should know that in war, good and evil become indistinguishable”, says the character of Carmelo Borg Pisani in Anthony Portelli’s famous play Il-Borg Pisani.

When it was first performed at the Manoel Theatre in 1986 under the direction of Josette Ciappara, the play generated vivid debate in the Maltese press because of its portrayal of the Maltese fascist Carmelo Borg Pisani, who is considered an Italian spy and traitor by some and an idealist and/or hero by others.

But in his play, Portelli was not interested in political judgements or indeed in political controversies. Instead he wanted to explore the complexity of a human character set against the background of wartime Malta, which was itself beset by numerous complexities: poverty, colonialism, ignorance and a search for identity in a chaotic world.

Poster for Ħajja mill-Ġdid (2002) for which Anthony Portelli won the Francis Ebejer Award for Best Play in 2001.

The play was a representation of life with its uncertainties and tragedies, where good and evil may sometimes not only be hard to tell apart but may also be transient and subjective.

Award-winning playwright and author Anthony Portelli was born in 1947 in St Paul’s Bay, the eldest son of Victor and Maria Portelli. In 1968, he studied in the UK. He soon became interested in theatre and in 1972 married Marbeck Vella, who would support him in his creative work for the rest of his life.

In 1986, Portelli attended a course in scriptwriting at MTADA and wrote two short plays, Deheb Iswed and Domino, which were performed by drama students in 1986 and 1987. In the following years, he wrote several other plays such as Il-Maskra tal-Imħabba, Triq Burnaby, No More Pickled Onions, Ħajja mill-Ġdid and Ċella Numru Ħamsa.

Il-Maskra tal-Imħabba was performed at the Manoel Theatre in 1987 while Triq Burnaby won third prize at the Francis Ebejer Award in 1997. Portelli also wrote various plays in English, such as Best Before End (performed in 1999), They Came for Up Helly Aa (performed in 2003), When Harry lost his marbles (2002), and Celebration (2003).

In 2001, Portelli won the Francis Ebejer Award for best play with his work Ħajja mill-Ġdid. In this play, he returns to the theme of poverty and human exploitation, this time through an imaginative interplay between Caravaggio’s life and paintings and modern day Brazil. He then uses this interplay to explore the relationship between art and reality.

Portelli’s contribution to the local theatre and literary scene is indelibly marked in Malta’s cultural history

Hence, when a cardinal comments that Caravaggio seems to prefer lowlife to art, Caravaggio replies “How can you compare the body with the oil and colour of a painting?”, challenging the notion of art for art’s sake. For Portelli, Caravaggio’s art was first and foremost a manifestation of the pain, eros and anger that the artist harboured inside him, and not simply a painting to be relished in a church.

The ending of this play, set as a recreation of Caravaggio’s masterpiece The Entombment of Christ, proved particularly striking when it was performed for the first time at the Greek Theatre in Ta’ Qali in July 2002.

Apart from plays for the theatre, Portelli also wrote several scripts for radio and television. He won the Francis Ebejer Award for his radioplay Kiesaħ u Biered in 2011 and second prize for his radioplay Lippu d-Doggi in 2012. Three of his works, Chali’, Rikba Bla Ħlas and L-Invażjoni Bdiet were shown on television as part of the series Stejjer Qosra on One TV.

His play No More Pickled Onions was also performed in Amsterdam’s Polanentheater in July 2019, as part of the Inplayers International’s One Act Plays Festival, under the direction of Shirley Blake, who had been part of the original cast in Malta.

Apart from plays, Portelli also wrote a number of short stories. Some of these stories were published in 2019 in Innuendo, a project of collaborative literature which he undertook together with National Book Prize winner Antoinette Borg. His plays Ċella Numru 5, Kiesaħ u Biered, Ħajja mill-Ġdid and Il-Borg Pisani have all been published.

For me, Portelli was also a dear uncle as his sister Adelina was my mother. I remember him fondly as a quiet and humble man who always chose his words wisely, but who had an intense passion for reading and a determination to fight on, in spite of difficulties. He abhorred arrogance and valued humility and family. His daughter, Rachel, describes how he would offer words of encouragement and support to those who felt that they had failed in something.

When I was a youth, I remember having vivid conversations with him at my grandmother’s house, where he was born and raised. He talked intensely about literature, his love for theatre and for travelling. He also talked about his childhood in the small fishing village of St Paul’s Bay in the 1950s, which I am sure inspired some of the characters and beautiful stories he wrote.

Portelli passed away peacefully on April 9 and his contribution to the local theatre and literary scene is indelibly marked in Malta’s cultural history. He will be remembered by all who experienced his plays and stories.