Theatre in Malta

Abstract

The two most popular forms of theatre in Malta are farce and melodrama. These are the main ingredients of what the Maltese call tijatrin, a term which, generally speaking, refers both to a type of theatre as well as to an entire evening's entertainment at the theatre. Until quite recently, and especially before the advent of television and its spread to the majority of Maltese homes, the theatre provided the main source of entertainment for a very large section of the local population. A number of amateur theatre-companies used to go from village to village and present a three-or four-hour programme consisting of a very long 'serious' first part (id-dramm) and a shorter light one. The whole evening could also be divided into three sections of more or less equal length. In this case the programme (referred to as a tryptich) would open with a tear-jerker (dramm, buzzett, or melodramm), to be followed by a 'social comedy', vudvill, or farce and a light-weight melee of sketches and songs (il- varjeta) at the end. [excerpt]