An amateur processing of the system : Stanislavsky in Malta

Abstract

This essay discusses Stanislavsky’s impact on theatre in Malta, a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean with a population of about 400,000 people. Th eatre practice in Malta saw its major developments from the 1960s onwards, developments that were informed by a search for a national identity and set against a backdrop which saw the country steadily moving towards the 1964 independence from British colonialism. Th e impact of Stanislavsky’s practice on theatre in Malta can be approached from several angles. Th ere is no evidence to support the existence of a direct line of theatre transmission, one that would see a Maltese practitioner training with Stanislavsky himself. Th e Russian director did visit Malta briefl y in September 1914, but no theatrical activity is recorded as he and his fellow travellers were not granted permission to disembark from their ship (in Vinogradskaia, 2003 , p. 442). Several indirect lines do, however, exist. In fact, a number of Russian and Soviet practitioners who had trained within the Stanislavsky acting tradition delivered a number of workshops in Malta, or staged productions with local actors.