As part of the 2025 edition of Trikki Trakki—Teatru Malta’s national youth theatre initiative—Prof. Isabelle Gatt from the Department of Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education at the University of Malta collaborated with a group of twelve- and thirteen-year-old students from San Ġorġ Preca College to devise and direct a bold new performance.
Working alongside Prof. Gatt was Ms Cassandra Galea, the school's drama teacher, whose ongoing work with the students enriched the creative process. Together, they guided the group in exploring physical storytelling, spatial awareness, and group cohesion—developing choreography and movement scores that underpinned the eerie, rhythmic tone of the piece.
This school-based production forms part of Prof. Gatt’s broader research in drama education and applied theatre, which positions theatre as a site for co-creation, agency, and meaningful learning. Her work continues to explore how creative pedagogies can empower young people and reimagine what teaching and learning in and through the arts can be.
Responding to this year’s festival theme, Gothic Literature, the group adapted Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart into a stylised ensemble performance that fused voice, rhythm, movement, and atmosphere to evoke the haunting quality of Poe’s original text. The piece was shaped through an intensive devising process grounded in ensemble theatre training, with students contributing to the script through improvisation, physical theatre, and choreographic sequences.
Working alongside Prof. Gatt was Ms Cassandra Galea, the school's drama teacher, whose ongoing work with the students enriched the creative process. Together, they guided the group in exploring physical storytelling, spatial awareness, and group cohesion—developing choreography and movement scores that underpinned the eerie, rhythmic tone of the piece.
“Across our initial sessions in the first term, weekly rehearsals during the second term, and the final production week at MSpace Blue Box,” Gatt notes, “many of these students—most of whom had never set foot on a stage—found their voice, confidence and presence. What we created wasn’t just a performance. It was a space for shared ownership, risk-taking, and joy in the discipline of theatre.”
This school-based production forms part of Prof. Gatt’s broader research in drama education and applied theatre, which positions theatre as a site for co-creation, agency, and meaningful learning. Her work continues to explore how creative pedagogies can empower young people and reimagine what teaching and learning in and through the arts can be.
Photo credit: Elisa Von Brockdorff
