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Martha Marie Gauci is 23-year-old accomplished writer with a two-act play, various sketches and children’s plays under her belt. The eloquent member of the Dwal Godda theatre troupe articulated her thoughts about her new play ‘Off Limits’ as well as fringe theatre in Malta.
 She made her debut on stage when she was in her “mummy’s womb”, and as a toddler, she was hell-bent on drawing with lipstick on her parent’s friend, playwright Francis Ebejer. So she is anything but a stranger to theatre and the labour of love that it entails.
What is the theme of the play and how did it come about?
Well, some of the group saw a film they really liked. And in the evening when we met for rehearsals all they spoke about was this film. Obviously everyone’s curiosity was heightened and I searched on the net to see read the storyline and I discovered it was based on Nicholas Spark’s novel: A Walk to Remember. I read it and that was my starting point. I did depart a bit from the story by eliminating and adding characters, adapting others.
I always wanted to write something about days at sixth form. Whenever my friends and I meet, we always end up talking about some prank or mishap that happened in sixth-form. Those two years were crucial for us and have left a great imprint. All of us refer to those two years as the best years of our lives. And I guess that this looked like a good prospect.
Is this your first time writing a play? What was the experience like?
It is my first time writing a two act play. I’ve written small sketches and children’s plays but that’s it. I always had something in mind but I never got down to writing. You see, I usually give up before even I start, or maybe I always need that little push. I have a little copybook, with a character-layout for a play I have had in mind for at least five years but it never materialised. But OFF LIMITS did. And it was tough. It was so tough that I would have probably given up if I know how tough it would turn out to be.
Yet, I think it was also an exercise of self-discovery. Very remarkable yet so difficult to explain.
The theatre troupe that you are a member of is called Dwal Godda. They are not that well known out of the theatre circles. So who are Dwal Godda?
Dwal Godda has been based in Gharghur for these last thirty-five years, and during this time there have been a series of developments. It started out with farces and what were known as Buzzetti. Just simple one act plays. In 1972, it was decided that theatre should be taken more seriously and for the first time Dwal Godda entered the Mgarr competition. Members realised that theatre can be a rather interesting tool and decided to use this tool to revive an annual village tradition which was dying out, namely the Good Friday Procession. Changing the date to palm Sunday and adding on theatrical touches seemed to have done the trick. Ever since, the jiazza of the village of Gharghur is engulfed with people who come to see how theatre, tradition and ritual can intertwine. In the meantime, members of the group were reading translations of plays by Pirandello, De Filippo, Miller and others were experimenting with original writings of their own. Slowly, slowly, production after production, Dwal Godda managed to create a niche of its own. You can try to label it but you can’t really. You can say it is it-teatru tal-parrocca. The space we use is in a village, but not the content, the actors and the style. Is it better? Or worse? Inferior or superior? None. It is different. It is not mainstream, so I guess it is at the fringe of the main theatrical scene.
How long have you been a member of this theatre troupe?
Since the day I was born, or rather before that. My parents met in this group and they’re still members. Apparently the first time I went on stage, I was still in my mummy’s womb.
You said that you consider Dwal Godda to be fringe theatre - why is that?
It is at the side of what goes on in the mainstream. There is less prominence given to stagecraft and more on the actor’s work and although expenses are kept minimal we do not compromise when it comes to art. One could say that Dwal Godda is not one of the core or central group of theatre companies, it is at the side. But it still has a point to prove.
You seem to have a pointed preference for fringe theatre. Why is that?
It’s not a preference, it is just a reality. We do not have the financial backing to go into mainstream theatre and neither its restrictions. We decide the nature, style and theme of the performance. Although we are still directed by ethical and even moral principles, we can be more spontaneous and imaginative because risk taking is more feasible and challenges and fresh ideas are something we embrace. By this I am not implying that what is referred to as mainstream theatre does not adopt innovative ideas.
Something else which is in our favour is that we do not adapt to a venue but we adapt the venue - which has other uses apart from theatre - to create a structure to suit the theme and idea of the performance we are going to present.
Is fringe theatre less appreciated than mainstream productions?
I think most people are not aware of the theatre that goes around in Malta. The idea that all that is mainstream is first rate and the rest is inferior and inadequate is changing. Last year, when Dwal Godda presented Daqqa t’Ghajn we had three full houses. Which may show that people are more aware of the theatre that is being produced outside our city walls even though they are given less predominance by the media in general.
You pointed out that you don’t like to categorise theatre – what is wrong with that?
When looking at different writings about theatre, you will realise that no one theory can reduce theatre arts to a series of necessary and sufficient elements, and it’s boundaries are constantly redrawn. This reminds me of Bertolt Brecht who once said: “We need a type of theatre which not only releases the feelings, insights and impulses possible within the particular historical field of human relations in which the action takes place, but employs and encourages those thoughts and feelings which help transform the field itself.” And I add: and the society we live in. Now whether I call the theatre we’re doing mainstream, village, elite, physical, you name it, as long as what is done is well prepared and artistic then it worth doing. Now I won’t go into the discourse of what is artistic or not. Many people, much wiser that me, have tackled it, still I don’t think they have come up with a rigid requirement list.
Your troupe has performed plays by Francis Ebejer, Joe Friggieri, Pirandello, Miller and De Filippo amongst others. Is it a conscious decision to make the selection as varied as possible?
Dwal Godda has always tried to create a balance. The works by theatre masters which we present are an ideal springboard and challenge for us to create works of our own.
What was it like having an iconic person like Francis Ebejer present at the rehearsals?
Unfortunately I was very young when that happened. I was a toddler. Apparently whenever he came I was always amused with his scarf or something. Everyone still mentions the day when I decided that I wanted him to wear lipstick, I took my mother’s lipstick from her bag and wanted to apply some on his lips. Pity I wasn’t older, as maybe he would have put some sense into my head. My father states that his long conversations with him were very inspiring.
When Dwal Godda staged Hitan, one of Ebejer’s toughest plays, Ebejer went on stage after the first act, hugged the director, pointed towards the audience and asked: “is this what the elite call popolin?”
What are the prospects for Dwal Godda?
We aim to have a long term plan in a way that we know exactly what the next step in the project is. But first OFF LIMITS: on Saturday 12 November at 7.30pm and Sunday 13 November at 6.30pm.
Martha Marie Gauci was talking to Michaela Muscat
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