Birds of a feather…

Ahjar innehhu l-bombi milli nnehhu l-pjan ta’ Piano.

I do hope the Prime Minister will forge ahead with Renzo Piano`s City Gate project – yes including the open air theatre. Who enjoys indoor performances in the Summer months ? Nobody does surely.

It is much more pleasing aesthetically to have a roofless flimsy structure built over the old Opera House ruins and a slender bridge at the entrance to set off the massive bulk of the bastions and the new parliament building. The `gate ` itself resembles the ramparts of a castle.

This endless quibbling and protesting over every new embellishment project undertaken in the capital is really getting on my nerves. `L-ottimo e` nemico del bene ` [ For the benefit of non- Italo- Maltese speakers: The quest for a perfect design which never ever gets off the ground is often at the expense of a sound, doable , practical and artistic project ].

Take St. George`s Square for example. Most residents of Valletta have taken to it as it is provides a functional, spacious , pleasant ambience even though initially they may have had reservations about some aspects of the original design. And many people were initially horrified at the riot of colours of the balconies displayed on the plans for the Valletta Waterfront . Now the colourful balconies and the Waterfront have become one of the best loved features and landmarks of the capital .

It makes so much more sense to have a national Opera House / large auditorium for large scale modern performances built round the Harbour area now that it is being redeveloped so beautifully. I was thrilled to read that the successful theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh has been commissioned by the Government to draw up a report on the feasibility of turning the Mediterranean Conference Centre into a major theatre and grand Opera House within a two year period .Apparently, the cost for this project would only be 20 percent of that incurred on a comparable new theatre elsewhere in Europe.

I am so glad that the beautifying of our capital city and the Grand Harbour area continues apace in spite of tiresome tantrums thrown by protestors.

This sounds suspiciously like Victor Laiviera.

I am one of those who was favourably impressed by Piano’s proposals, on aesthetic and not technical grounds of course as I do not possess the necessary background to make any judgement.

However I can understand the frustration of performers who find their open-air productions ruined by inclement weather and even worse, as such things are avoidable, by the selfishness of village feast organisers who persist in utilising the infamous ‘bomba’ in their otherwise attractive firework displays. There is no excuse in this day and age to persist in this type of noise pollution

I agree that the decision on the Piano proposal must remain in the hands of those whom we have elected to take such decisions for us, parliament and the government, who hopefully will take the correct decision after listening to those who have the expertise to give useful opinions.

Referendums should be reserved for areas not already forming part of the current government’s electoral programme and where there is doubt on the electorate’s true wishes regarding a matter that will significantly affect the population’s quality of life.

I find the attention-seeking behaviour of individuals and organisations who are clearly out of their element and area of competence childish to say the least.

The argument, Daphne, is that it’s useless to try and label this and that as belonging to some form of lower social group (as if we’re in India with its caste system) since both political parties are nowadays made up of all sorts of people.

The sort of ‘game’ being played on this blog is rather foolish since Malta is not the Malta of 1996 if you get my drift.

[Daphne – Both parties have all sorts of people, but each party has a distinct core vote that emerges clearly in surveys. Without what you call ‘labels’, polling and marketing would be impossible. Those labels exist because the distinct socio-economic groups they describe exist too.]

An open air theatre in Valletta would be absolutely wonderful.

Those who object do not know how to truly enjoy theatre. They’re a bunch of pseudo-intellectuals who have read An Actor Prepares and spend the entire performance peering critically at the stage and actors instead of suspending disbelief and giving themselves up to the sheer enjoyment of the experience.

Then they spend the rest of the evening boring us to tears with their grousing, just to show us how deep and intellectual they are.