AlfredButtigieg

Buttiġieġ was born in Tarxien in 1956. He graduated as a teacher in 1981 and taught for several years before becoming a headmaster of a primary school. During that time he wrote twenty-one Maltese language workbooks for primary schoolchildren. He was a founding member of Ateatru in the 1980s, and formed part of the Manoel Theatre Management Committee between 2003 and 2008. Though he has retired from writing, he enjoys artistic expression through his newfound love of ceramics. His first exhibition was held in 2024 and called ‘Figures Unbound’ – focusing on the human body captured in raw motion, with figures such as Sisyphus and the Fat Lady.

Buttiġieġ has written about a variety of topics and is inspired by different elements. The thread connecting Buttiġieġ’s plays is perhaps the value ascribed to originality and the desire to write with purpose, along with a hint of humour. His first work ‘Gezzu’, staged in 1982 and again in 2010, is a philosophical fable for adults about a spider’s refusal to conform to society’s expectations and demands. In 1986 Buttiġieġ staged his first full-length play – ‘Ir-Rewwixta tal-Qassisin’ (The Priests’ Revolt) – which premiered at the Manoel Theatre. This historical play within a play operates on various levels of time and place, drawing parallels with three key moments in Maltese history.

‘Mela hawn xi Manikomju?’ (What is this, a Madhouse?) (2016), is the play Buttiġieġ considers to be his most original work. It reveals a chronology of life, inspired by his own mother’s stay in a ward of Karen Grech hospital with three other patients, and all the things that they would talk about whilst he was there visiting her. A play about incidents, ‘L-Interrogazjoni’ (The Interrogation) (2021), is a favourite among theatre-goers and is centred on a double murder which took place in Malta in 2013. This play took three years to write. One of his later plays, staged in 2023, ‘L-Arrest ta’ Danny Weed’ (The Arrest of Danny Weed), was particularly challenging to write. It is loosely based on the true story of Welsh expatriate Daniel Holmes who was imprisoned for growing cannabis in Malta.

In 2017 a collection of his four full-length plays was published as Alfred Buttiġieġ: The Collected Plays (translated by Irene Mangion). In 2024, to wrap up his writing career, Buttiġieġ published Id-Drammi ta’ Alfred Buttiġieġ, which includes all plays staged between 1981 and 2023. All his works have been translated into English, except for ‘L-Interrogazjoni’ (2021) which is bilingual, and can be found on Amazon Kindle. A collection of children’s plays – aimed to be performed by children for an adult audience – is soon to be published.

Exploring these plays as well as the more recent ceramics, one gets a sense of being out of one’s comfort zone, challenging oneself in order to expand and grow. There is dedication but also a struggle in bringing together the craft of creating and the act of remembering.