Teatru Malta’s latest theatrical production Drago is set to portray the life and career of the internationally renowned Maltese snooker and pool player Tony Drago penned by writer ANDRÉ MANGION. The writer speaks to Lara Zammit about the play and the process of developing its script.
LZ: Drago – It-Tvenvin Ta’ ‘Tornado Tony’ is a play inspired by the life of the legendary Maltese professional snooker and pool player Tony Drago. How did you go about creating the script for this play?
AM: The script is very much rooted in a series of conversations that I had with Tony himself, with some of his close friends and newspaper articles dating back to 1970s about Tony and his career. The nature of the script is, therefore, very much biographical.
There are only small instances where some fictional scenes were created to create a better structure and drive forward the narrative. Otherwise, the script portrays a realistic image of our subject, sometimes using elements of verbatim.
While the script is essentially a monologue, there are a number of important character voices that feature throughout. Some of these voices are real life figures who were important in Tony’s career and others are a representation of a category of people that also played a role in Tony’s life.
The script has been written and re-structured once so far and there is an ongoing conversation between all creatives involved to keep improving what we have.
Tony was definitely the starting point and main source of inspiration for anything I wrote. He was central in the creation and the development of the script.
LZ: How similar or dissimilar is Drago the character from Drago the person?
AM: I should say, at least on a script level, they will be very similar. During scriptwriting, I ensured that discourse would be styled in Tony’s own jargon. As individuals we all have a set of vocabulary and speaking style which is quite unique. While speaking to Tony, I paid particular attention to this and included these elements within the monologue.
LZ: Drago is known for his speed around the table and also his temperamental nature. Does this aspect of his character make itself known in the play?
AM: This piece of work is biographical. Elements that are unique to and make up Tony’s personality were captured and weaved into the play.
The play is directed by Sean Buhagiar.
LZ: Did you face any challenges when compiling his biography due to his temperament?
AM: Yes, I did…
LZ: Does your role as writer also come into play in the directorial part of the production? How does Sean Buhagiar’s directorial/conceptual role interweave with your writing and what was the nature of your collaboration, if any?
AM: I firmly believe that each creative involved in the development of a theatre production needs to have the creative freedom to contribute to the project. With that in mind, I keep my involvement in the directorial aspect very limited unless I’m asked otherwise. I remain at the director’s disposal to discuss any further ideas he or she might have and change the script if necessary. I’m very open to other people’s ideas in the creative process.
With Sean I’ve had and I’m still having a number of discussions and we keep on developing the script. This is the second time I’m directly working with Sean with a writer-director collaboration. We’re more familiar with each other’s methods and that gives more room to a fruitful collaboration.
Drago – It-Tvenvin Ta’ ‘Tornado Tony’, co-produced with the Valletta Cultural Agency, is running from March 11-20 at the La Valletta Band Club at 8pm. For tickets or more information, visit teatrumalta.org.mt /events/drago/.