Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar cannot understand the reasoning behind the decision to construct a theatre without a roof on the opera house site, a budgetary compromise which will limit its use in winter as well as in summer when Valletta is subjected to festa noise four days a week. Performances would also be disturbed by the private functions which are held regularly in the public gardens, the summer festival at the Argotti gardens, the Isle of MTV and other concerts on the granaries, the Jazz Festival and 21st September celebrations. It is worth noting that the Ta’ Qali open theatre is no longer used because the noise created by the flight path above disrupts performances. Inclement weather in winter will make the theatre unusable for most of the season leaving only a narrow time-frame to generate a return on the capital investment and to cover year-round maintenance.
As Tenor Joseph Calleja said “It’s not the best solution in the sense that a roofless theatre – whatever gizmos and things they install in it, still remains a roofless theatre and very limited in what it can do”. We therefore also cannot but question the cost-effectiveness of such a major investment on a performance space that can only be used during a few months when the weather is mild and even then there will always be the risk of a performance being disturbed by noise.
Furthermore the issue here has also to do with the reality that Malta still lacks a national theatre. This lacuna in our cultural scene is all the more shocking in view of the fact that in spite of their financial difficulties, some of the most underdeveloped countries in the world including Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia, Niger, Senegal and Ghana have appreciated the importance of, and have set up national theatres. Additionally, if small, provincial American towns such as Norfolk (Virginia), Cedarville (Ohio), Rochester (New Hampshire), Green Lake (Wisconsin), Elkader (Iowa) and Sumter (South Carolina) take great pride in their opera houses/theatres and successfully run varied theatrical programmes throughout the year, should not the same hold for Malta which is a nation, not a community?
A roofless theatre which cannot ever be considered a National theatre will also exclude school groups from attending performances or listening to Malta’s homeless Philharmonic orchestra since schoolchildren cannot be expected to sit through performances on wet or cold winter days. The theatre will similarly be useless for ballet troupes which cannot perform on a damp stage. FAA suggests that Malta could tap EU funds for the rebuilding of a proper national theatre in Malta.
Although Architect Renzo Piano has produced a very interesting concept in his flexible interior layout and use of the latest technology the ruins will remain a performance space rather than a theatre equipped with rehearsal rooms and other facilities that would foster cultural life, which is something that goes far beyond a physical space.
Whilst FAA does not enter into the merits of the rebuilding of the original designs, it deplores the scorn being poured on those who are requesting this. Theatres rebuilt in the original architectural style include La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice as well as the theatres of Bari, Messina and Frankfurt even though the latter was rebuilt after a considerable number of years.
The conflicting message being given is that the rebuilding of a destroyed structure is valid at Manoel Island, but will be a fake in Valletta and that the style of the Barry Opera House does not match Valletta’s Baroque buildings but that a modern parliament on stilts will be suitable within the same context.
Futhermore FAA adds that the symbolic preservation of ruins usually relates to structures which are thousands of years old. Later scars, especially war damage scars, were and are still being rebuilt. Malta already has monuments that recall the horrors of that war; now it is time to look ahead positively by rebuilding a monument to culture which will also attract more tourists to Malta and consequently boost employment in both the tourism and cultural fields.