The Malta Drama Centre has been selected to participate at the 14th International Festival of Student Theatre in Besançon, organised by the University of Franche-Comté. Between the 7th and 11th of March (2005), 130 students from different countries will gather in the city of Besançon, cradled in a meander of river Doubs for a unique theatre experience on an international platform. Each group will be engaged in a performance and a series of workshops, lectures and discussions.

Nine students from the graduate level of the Drama Centre are currently training with Ruben Zahra to create a performance for this event, based on selected works of Maltese contemporary poet Achille Mizzi. The performance shall be entirely in the Maltese language, supported by the body and voice of the actors. Each scene deals with a basic anthropological theme of ‘life cycles’, ‘blood roots’, ‘ritual’, ‘rhythm’, ‘fertility’, ‘life and death’. The soundtrack of the performance is projected through the orchestration of vocal textures and percussion.

The Maltese group is also required to prepare a workshop for the participants that will focus on techniques in ‘vocal action’. This technique refers to the work accomplished by the pedagogues and masters of the Third Theatre: Jerzy Grotowski, Eugenio Barba, Peter Brook, Julian Beck, Ingemar Lindh and others. The participants will experience an energetic workout engaging body and voice. The techniques of this workshop will explore a wide range of vocal textures and intonations, projecting the actor beyond his/her physical space.

The Malta Drama Centre has also been invited to participate in the ‘Arts at Convergence Festival’ organised by the ‘Sustainable Living Centre’ in Ireland in April 2005 and at the ‘Monastir Theatre Festival’ for student actors in Tunisia in July 2005. Mario Azzopardi, director of the Malta Drama Centre comments that “These are valuable opportunities to place Maltese theatre aesthetics within a European context. It is important that the methodologies implemented at the Malta Drama Centre stand for the demands of an international scenario.”

The Malta Drama Centre operates within the Adult Education and Further Studies Department of the Division of Education.