Priests' uprising

Since I am currently in the Czech Republic where I am teaching at one of the main universities, I was unfortunately forced to miss the revival of Alfred Buttigieg's play performed this weekend at the National Theatre. 'Ir-Rewwixta tal-Qassisin' (The Priests' Uprising), a play within a play about an 18th century uprising, stirred controversy when it was first performed in 1986 as it appeared to symbolise contemporary Maltese unrest just months before the Labour government of the day lost the national elections. 'Ir-Rewwixta', like Oliver Friggieri's 'Fil-Parlament ma' Jikbrux Fjuri', came to represent a public outcry in the mid 1980's against the dominating influence of the prevailing political establishment. In his latest blog entry, Immanuel Mifsud agrees with playwright Buttigieg who states that not much has changed in Maltese society in the last twenty years. From Immanuel Mifsud's blog:

Buttigieg's masterpiece is an exception in Maltese theatre, in that it has not become outdated despite the twenty years that passed since it was staged for the first time. No other playwright has managed to put on stage a situation which, alas, is still very much the reality of present day Malta..

In his programme note Alfred Buttigieg puts forth a fundamental question: how true is it that Malta has changed since the mid 80s when, according to him, "for the first time, democracy was in peril"? The rest of his programme note seems to answer the question: not much has changed. At the beginning of the 21st century we are still being told by our honourable politicians that whatever they say is right and whatever the 'others' say is wrong; we still have the cult figures - often arrogant ones - who drum their ideas in the collective psyche; still the usual messages from the government's side that we need to do sacrifices for the sake of a healthier economy; still polarised.

The Rising of the Priests at the Manoel Theatre - Marco Galea

'Turbulent Priests' by Claire Bonello