This Week • 17 November 2002

What a week!

Actress and news-caster Stephanie Farrugia talks to Ramona Depares about her role in the upcoming play ‘proof’

Monday: All week preparing for our upcoming show, a panto version of Snow White. Yep, I am a full-time actor with the drama unit at the Education Department, which means that acting is really what I do all day. The unit stages a whole lot of different plays throughout the year and the target audience are, of course, the students. Which is why we produce so many different styles of productions: from Shakespearean performances for the upper classes (we just had excerpts from Macbeth and Midsummer’s Night Dream in fact) to panto and light stuff for the younger children. The Drama Unit has its own theatre at Blata l-Bajda and the children come there to see us. Unlike with my private acting work, I don’t really get to choose what I appear in but this does not make it any less exciting: I love doing everything from the classics to drama pieces with a social theme.

The best thing about working with the Drama Unit is the fact that I get to experience all the different aspects of theatre life. I rig up the lights, work on the masks and costumes, the props… which means that everyone gets a good background. We’re lucky in that we’re a great group: we all know each other very well and can read each other’s mind instinctively.

Afternoon raced home to read the script of Proof and then it was off to rehearsals.

Tuesday: Morning spent taking care of the final touches for Snow White. Snow White gets to wear a blue wig that’s really funky and that also matches that of her Prince Charming! I’m sure the panto will be a big hit with the children, they love that style of theatre tremendously. This is one of the best things about theatre, I believe: the immediate feedback. With television it is different. You do not have an audience in front of you to show its appreciation, so you don’t really know what the people who are watching you might be thinking. I guess I do feel more at home on stage than in front of the camera – after all I’ve been acting for years while theatre came much later than that.

Having said that, I still enjoy my work at Net Tv tremendously. In fact today I was on for the afternoon news shift. What’s sure is that television requires a tremendous amount of work: when I was trying to produce something I almost went bananas. What I enjoy most is developing an idea, creating something new. But then when it comes to transferring the idea to reality, now that’s rather mundane… Especially if I find out that I have to compromise. Imagine planning an orchestra of seventy people and ending up with a band of seven! With theatre there isn’t that problem. If I find that I have to compromise I just don’t do it.

Wednesday: Woke up early and skipped breakfast as is my usual want. A healthy milk drink is my only claim to breakfast. Found myself in a massive traffic jam, as is usual. Wondered whether to scream in frustration or to put on a tape of my favourite music. Finally decided on the latter, I don’t need a bad start to the day!

Got to theatre, worked on adjusting some costumes and practising songs. That’s the worst of panto: we all invariably have to sing, with varying degrees of success I must say!

Afternoon re-read the script of Proof. I always try to do this twice a day: everytime I read it I discover something new! It’s not about studying or memorising the lines but more about letting the play sink in. Off to rehearsals, where we’re all being uncharacteristically disciplined. It must be because three of the characters from the play are mathematicians! It’s surprising how the scientist type of people are different from us artsy types: in the world of arts we tend to go by perceptions rather than the truth. The opposite is true of these Proof characters. And so no loitering and wasting time at rehearsals, but a purely no-nonsense approach and joking limited strictly to breaks.

Thursday: The excitement of Proof is starting to sink in. It is an absolute first time in Maltese theatre that two theatre companies are joining up to produce a play. For proof, Masquerade and Theatreworx have joined forces and I am getting really positive vibes about this joint venture. After all, the pooling of resources can only be a good thing. Tony [Bezzina] has seen the very first performances of PROOF on Broadway – he knows exactly how the play works, but one thing has to be said- he definitely knows where he wants us to arrive, and he is helping us do it (believe me, he is a seargent major even where accents are concerned) but what we all appreciate is that he is allowing us to move in our own spheres as actors which is as it should be. Everyone is having a really good time.

The play has four characters: I have the role of Catherine, the one around which the play revolves. She has lost her father, who is a genius and the question she keeps asking herself is: how much of his genius have I inherited and how much of his manic depression? It’s extremely well-plotted but I’m not giving any more away. The dialogue is brilliant: I love the casual, natural American idiom!

Friday: Dress rehearsal for Snow White today. We did three runs to make sure everything goes smoothly. At 2.30 I waved goodbye to my dayjob and said hello to the recording studios at Net Tv.

Late afternoon concentrated on Proof: with the play coming up so soon, there are still a hundred and one details to finish off: getting the separations for the adverts, running around for the posters etc In between this and rushing off to rehearsals found some time for my daily walk down Gharghur valley to Madliena. So invigorating…

Saturday: Retail therapy today. Had a great time going around Sliema and buying everything that my eyes happened to fall upon. Returned home absolutely in high spirits, only to get a call from my sister who works at the bank. The purpose? To inform me that I was way over my credit and I should watch it. Didn’t let this spoil the day though: after all, what I bought they’re not going to take away from me!

Went out for a lovely dinner in the evening, followed by a couple of drinks at the bar. I do so love meeting different people and having a good chat!

Sunday: Had a lie-in and then it was off to my parents’ for Sunday lunch. Had the news shift and then went for my usual walk. Decided to go to the cinema later. Watched Red Dragon and I must say I wasn’t too impressed. The villain was rather wishy-washy, I thought, and couldn’t really make up his mind on what his bone of contention was. Still enjoyed it: give me a bag of popcorn and I’m happy at the movies!Proof runs at the Manoel Theatre between the 22 and 24 of November. For details see page 35 of the newspaper.