WHAT A SCENE!

Did you know that despite its small size, Malta boasts a thriving theatre, music, and dance scene, with a number of events taking place weekly in the islands' main performance venues? 

The Manoel Theatre was built towards the end of the tenure of the Knights of St John.

At the time, the demand for entertainment was such that in 1731 Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena commissioned the little theatre which bears his name to this day.  After the theatre fell into disuse for a number of years, the Government in the late 1950s decided to restore and refurbish it. 

This had the effect of bringing back the Manoel Theatre to its former grandeur, and also to make of it a centre of cultural life.

One of the first structures erected in the new city of Valletta after the Great Siege of 1565, St James Cavalier has served many purposes following its initial conception as a military post to provide raised gun-platforms which served as defences against any possible land-based attacks. Today, the building houses Malta's foremost centre for creativity and the arts, and the theatre, music room and exhibition spaces within the building offer a variety of possibilities for different events.  This is an ideal venue when looking for something out of the box!

The Mediterranean Institute Theatre Programme (MITP) is housed within the buildings of the old University in Valletta.  The MITP Theatre itself is a space which is often used for experimental theatre pieces and can be used in many innovative ways for dance performances, musical concerts, plays, exhibitions and other forms of presentations. 

The above venues, and many more dotted around the Maltese islands, are home to a number of music, dance and theatre performances produced by local and overseas companies.  The Cultural landscape in Malta has blossomed over the past few years, not only in terms of quantity - given the number of new drama and dance companies around - but also in terms of the variation in the types of performances that are being produced.  Needless to say, the quality of the talent involved has also improved to a certain extent, and it is safe to assume that this will continue to improve as can be witnessed by the number of drama and dance schools of a high standard that are mushrooming all over the island.  Also, a number of local actors and musicians are currently studying abroad, and hopefully will be in a position to use their experience to further develop the local scene. 

St James is always at the forefront of cutting edge culture, with a number of art exhibitions, film festivals, and musical performances scheduled for the coming months, while the MITP will no doubt find its space being utilised for a diverse series of events which provoke as well as entertain.  These are just a handful of the exciting cultural events that take place in Malta, produced in the main by Malta's budding community of actors, dancers, musicians and artists, many of whom, we are proud to claim, are making their mark on the international scene - the names and achievements of tenor Joseph Calleja, percussionist Renzo Spiteri, and Soprano Miriam Gauci spring to mind - and we guarantee that visitors are never at a loss for what to do!