Science speed dating, travelling medicine busking and CSI at Science in the City

Grimani, min Qattlu? will revolve around a murder which happened in a Valletta convent in 1738 and the details of which were recorded in a short ballad written at the time. The 30-minute production will be played at the Ministry of Health in Merchants Street.
Grimani, min Qattlu? will revolve around a murder which happened in a Valletta convent in 1738 and the details of which were recorded in a short ballad written at the time. The 30-minute production will be played at the Ministry of Health in Merchants Street.

A fun face-to-face speed dating with scientists will be held at one of the leading wine bars in Valletta as part of Science in the City festival on Friday 26 September from 6.30pm till 11pm.

A number of young and senior scientists will be sitting around a bar with posters indicating their scientific field. Participants will be able to stretch their imagination skills and ask questions and get an answer from the scientist in just seven minutes.

As soon as the gong goes, the participant will move on to the next scientist and present another question. Participants will be able to leave and re-enter the circuit whenever a free position is available.

The scientific fields will include glow-in-the-dark molecules, sea pollution, green algae, aeronautics, space exploration, cancer and more. Science speed dating will be held at Charles Grech Wine Bar in Republic Street, Valletta, from 6.30pm onwards.

Travelling Medicine Show

Creative Island street performers will be holding a ‘Travelling Medicine Show’, staging vintage style entertainment in three different locations in Republic Street. At 8.30pm at City Gate, 9.30 pm at the corner between Republic Street and St John’s Street, and at 10:30pm in St George’s square. The act focuses on medical history of Malta, depicting some unusual and strange medical practices.

The performers, Vee Stivala, Joseph Zammit, Maria Pia Meli, and Marie Claire Camilleri will gather audiences behind them to the next stop where at the end they will give out elixirs to the crowd. Produced by Nicole Cuschieri, directed by Vee Stivala, and aided by research consultant Miriam Calleja, the Travelling Medicine Show is being funded by the Malta Arts Fund.

CSI: Valletta

At the courtyard of the Ministry of Health in Merchants Street, Dr Marco Galea from the University Theatre Studies, investigators from the Malta Police Force and forensic scientists from the University of Malta will present Grimani, min Qaltu? (Who killed Grimani?) An evening of Maltese ballads, performance and forensic science related to an unsolved crime story involving the murder of a priest in Malta.

While researching Maltese ballads “għana tal-fatt”, Marlene Mifsud Chircop came across Fr Vincenzo Grimani’s murder.  The learned preacher/lecturer, aged 35, was savagely killed at night in his Valletta convent cell in 1738, door locked from outside, key thrown away in the garden. 

Up to a couple of months ago the nine-stanza ballad about the murdered friar and the loss his mother suffered was all that was known about the murder.  A Dominican friar was unjustly accused as there was no proper police investigation or forensics. He was imprisoned in terrible conditions but escaped and remained in exile in Sicily for years, claiming till the end to know the murderer and to be innocent. 

The story and ballads will revive the murder scene in our times, narrating what police procedure  and forensic tests would have been done to find out the real murderer.  The 30-minute production will be shown at 7.00pm, 8.00pm, 9.00pm and 10.00pm.                                                 

The Science in the City festival—European Researchers’ Night is supported by the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action of the Horizon 2020 (H2020) Programme. The event is organised by the University of Malta, Malta Chamber of Scientists and the Research Trust of the University of Malta, in partnership with Karl Borg Events, Studio 7, Valletta 2018 Foundation, MEUSAC, Valletta Local Council, Malta Council for Science and Technology, Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology, Arts Council Malta, PBS, Notte Bianca, St James Cavalier, Lufthansa Technik Malta, General Soft Drinks with Coca Cola, Ta' Mena wines, and British Council.

The full programme and venue details can be downloaded from www.scienceinthecity.org.mt