5 Subien.com, part of Teatru Malta’s Għaxra. Photos: Facebook
The innocuously titled 5Subien.com was put up a few weeks ago as part of Għaxra, the collection of plays produced as part of Teatru Malta’s 10th anniversary celebrations. This is a translation of Simona Semenic’s short play 5 Boys, directed by Julienne Restall and featuring a cast of mostly emerging and returning actors, and it will show once again during the upcoming KampuSajf 26. It’s a brutally funny, dark play that was skilfully directed and translated to Maltese, and I left feeling like my emotions had been put through the wringer. If you’re attending the new run, here’s what to expect.
Table of contents
5Subien.com production details
| Play | 5Subien.com, part of Għaxra |
| My Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) |
| Producer | Teatru Malta |
| Script | Simona Semenic, translated to Maltese by Kurt Meli |
| Director | Julienne Restall |
| Cast | Shirley Blake, Mandy Muscat, maria Cristina Zammit, Sarah Vella, Annelise Abela |
| Artistic Director of Għaxra | Philip Leone-Ganado |
| Production Manager | Sara Gauci |
| Stage Manager | Luca Xerri |
| Trigger Warnings | Language, suicide |
| Age | 15+ |
| Running Time | 1 hour 30 mins |
| Dates | August 7 |
| Venue | Mosta Amphitheatre |
| Language | Maltese |
5Subien.com – narrative & translation
Taken at face value, 5Subien.com represents a pretty mundane scene from the lives of these five young boys as they gather in their regular secret spot to play the very same games we’ve all played as children. It all starts extremely innocently, with talk of Ninja Turtles, Harry Potter, NBA games, dinosaurs and lego.
Slowly, less innocent language and games start creeping into the dialogue, starting out so subtly that you barely realise that the narrative has just taken a very dark twist. When “you’re such a pussy” is first introduced as the insult of choice, no-one in the audience manages to keep a straight face. Eventually, the first “mela aħna pufti, jew” comes out. A few eyebrows shoot up, but it’s just kids’ speak, right? We laugh, albeit a tad uneasily.
By the time the situation reaches Lord of the Flies proportions, the audience’s laughter has been replaced with stunned silence. We’ve finally figured out that the five boys are parroting their respective home lifes and the bigoted beliefs within, and it hits hard. By this time the boys are done pretending that Superman’s fighting Voldermort and have moved on to “nazis beating the shit out of faggots”. Oh yes, and the “hare krishnas”.
I walked in blind and unaware of the emotional rollercoaster I was about to be pluged into, so when the narrative evolved from fun and games to pure violence this left even more of an impact. Semenic’s script is a masterpiece and Kurt Meli’s translation to Maltese equally so. Meli has somehow managed to transfer the vibe of his delightful Maltese-language educational videos to this difficult script.
What makes this translation of 5Subien.com so effective is the way Meli has captured the organic code-switching that forms part of our national lingua franca. Other productions like Noti Mil-Loki tal-Big G‘s have attempted to do so on a much smaller scale and with considerably less impact. Other Maltese scripts don’t even attempt to go there, knowing full well that unless it’s done very well it can break a production.
Meli succeeds where others fear to tread, the Maltese dialogue liberally sprinkled with phrases using the English language, and even using hybrids like “jislowja” and “jissejvja”. It works beautifully, giving the dialogue a ring of authenticity that can only come from using language the way it’s used daily, on the streets. If I’m not mistaken this is Meli’s first script, and I look forward to seeing more such work introducing a sorely needed layer to theatre-work in Maltese.
5Subien.com – direction
The play is directed by Julienne Restall, an emerging – and increasingly strong – voice. 5Subien.com is the first play she’s directing, and she brings together the ensemble of five (female, as per the original play’s intentions) actors playing the five boys cohesively. This is a very physical play that, given the limited space can easily descend into chaos. However, under Restall’s direction, the ensemble moves as one unit.
Balancing a physical production within a small space is not always easy. I have memories of a chair careening into the audience during a performance of Take Two’s Castillo at Spazju Kreattiv. However, Restall handles this side of things very well, carefully controlling the considerable movement required, allowing it to retain its power without running amok. Physical interactions – and there are plenty of them – never once threaten to spill onto the audience seated in the first row.
The director makes particularly effective use of the production’s intimate setting. Far from allowing the limited space to restrict her, the staging draws on every available corner, including areas that might easily have been overlooked.
Pacing is strong, my one observation being that a couple of passages involving the (admittedly hilarious) “swish swish” could have been shortened while still getting the point across.
The cast
The cast of five saw Shirley Blake returning to the stage after a considerable absence and Sarah Vella – an artist more associated with contemporary dance through ŻfinMalta – transferring her skills to a dialogue-based performance. The rest of the cast was made up of Mandy Muscat, Maria Cristina Zammit and Annelise Abela, all emerging voices.
Each actor inhabited the role of a young boy more than credibly, cultivating the mannerisms and that particular way of carrying themselves that boys have. At times throughout the play I found myself forgetting that what I was looking at was, in actual fact, a bunch of grown women. There’s a particular vibe to a tightly knit boys’ group of friends that is very hard to fake. None of the performers in 5Subien.com were faking it, so I can only surmise that rehearsals were particularly intense and immersive.
Although the play very much centres on the group dynamic, the characters never blur. Each actor develops a distinct personality and presence, individual quirks and mannerisms. Kristof’s “bla sens” and “skużani”, Vid’s obsession with the Justice League of America, Blaz’s contempt for female characters like Wonder Woman, and Denis’s weirdly detailed knowledge of superheroes, Juri’s homophbic slurs… small details perhaps, but brought to life very effectively by each actor.
5Subien.com – verdict
5Subien.com is a very unlikely play to enjoy, but it’s also very difficult not to enjoy it. This is not only down to Semenic’s psychologically astute script and Meli’s translation, which judging by what I’ve read stays faithful to the original while adding Maltese nuance. It’s also down to very tight direction that brought out the best from each member of the ensemble. And also down to an ensemble that clearly isn’t scared of taking well-calculated risks for their art.
It works, so if you can watch it do so. One word of caution: the text includes a significant amount of swearing. If you’re squeamish about that, this play is not for you.
Affiliate/Advertising Disclaimer: How I Carry Out Reviews
I received no payment for this review of 5Subien.com and I was offered press tickets. The opinions expressed here are purely my own and the producers had no input/control over what I wrote. There are no affiliate links contained within this page. To learn more about my policies and my reviewing process, visit my Affiliate/Advertising disclosure page. To better understand what my rating means, check out the details of the star system.
