‘Mitluf/Misjub’: celebrating our true selves
Finding and celebrating your true self seems to have been a popular theme for this year’s edition of the ever-popular ŻiguŻajg, the international children’s arts festival that has firmly cemented its position in the local arts and culture calendar. The theatrical production Mitluf/Misjub, staged at San Ġorġ Preca College Primary School, Valletta, between November 25-27, was one of the productions showcased at the festival. I watched Moveo’s touching Uncover/Discover dance performance the night before and I was struck by the similarity of the themes covered by both performances. Another scene from the production. In Mitluf/Misjub, the central character is Flo, a budding bedroom musician with a penchant for Joon (aka Yasmin Kuymizakis – the local electronic songwriter who is also credited with the sound design of the piece). Flo, however, is struggling with fitting in with the in-crowd at her new school and blames it all on her idiosyncratic tastes, so she decides to go with the flow (pun intended) and become someone she’s not but whom she thinks will be more readily accepted by her new friends. In the opening stages of the play, we see Flo going through the angst and self-doubt...