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Known simply as "il
Teatro" from its opening on the 19th January 1732 until the beginning
of British rule in 1800, the Manoel Theatre was built by the Portuguese
Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena to keep the young knights of the
Order of St. John out of mischief but also to provide the general public
with "honest entertainment." The first performance was of a then
celebrated Italian tragedy, Maffei’s Merope, but it is likely that opera
performed by professionals was performed at least as often as drama during
the rule of the Order. Works by the great master of "opera seria"
Johann Adolf Hasse were often performed during the theatre’s early decades,
but just as popular throughout the century was the rival "opera
buffa" by leading composers like Nicolo Piccinni, Baldassare Galuppi
and Domenico Cimarosa.
Nicolo Isouard, a young Maltese composer who subsequently became very
famous in Napoleon’s Paris, became popular in 1790s Malta and when Napoleon
expelled the Order of St. John in 1798 he was placed in charge of the
theatre where his first opera, Casaciello Perseguitato da un Mago, had been
performed in 1793. Under British rule, the theatre became the Royal Theatre
and was rented out, as it had been under the Knights, to impresarios.
Throughout the 19th century opera, and later operetta, remained the
dominant form of entertainment in our theatre, but drama in English,
Italian, and later in Maltese, generally performed by amateurs, often
appeared on its boards. Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer was played in
1801, and in the following decades comedies and farces by George Colman,
Thomas Morton and others were very popular. Luigi Rosato and subsequently
Carmelo Camilleri were two actor/playwrights whose efforts and ability
ensured that the fledgling drama in Maltese would survive into adulthood.
At the turn of the century the drama group Indipendenza brought a touch of
professionalism to their performances of musicals and plays in Maltese.
Italian opera was preferred above all other opera by the Maltese public.
Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi were the great favourites, but dozens
of minor composers’ works were also performed. Most of the singers were
foreign, mainly Italian. The great soprano Euphyrosyne Parepa and the
equally great mezzo soprano Adelaide Borghi sang at the Manoel in the 1850s
very early in their careers.
The original building suffered important changes during the 19th century.
In 1812 the auditorium lost its U-shape and became ovoid, its height was
raised by a new tier of boxes, and its stone boxes faced with painted
wooden panels. In 1843 eight stage boxes were constructed and handsome new
paintings were added to two tiers of boxes.
In 1862 the Theatre passed into the hands of its first private owner, and
it acquired its present name when in 1866 the title "Royal" was
bestowed on a new opera house. The first years in private ownership were
inglorious, but when in 1873 the new house burnt down, the Manoel reverted
for seven years to its old role as Malta’s opera house, and subsequently it
established itself as a theatre specialising in a new genre, operetta, and
later still in the even newer Anglo-American musical comedy.
The early decades of the 20th century saw the Manoel presenting these two
genres as well as some opera and plays, both amateur and professional, in
Malta’s three main languages. By the late Twenties, however, the cinema had
such a following, that the Manoel began to present films much more than
anything else, and this role it retained for around twenty years.
During the Second World War it escaped any serious damage, but now the
building needed a thorough refurbishment and some restoration. This it
received when it was bought back by the Maltese Government in 1957. Since
1960, when it reopened with a performance of Coppelia by the Ballet
Rambert, it has had an official Management Committee and it is no longer
rented out for whole seasons to impresarios as in the past.
The Manoel’s programmes retained, and continue to retain, their old
variety, but the main emphasis during recent decades has been on
instrumental music. Great visiting performers have included Louis Kentner,
Yehudi Menuhin and Mstislav Rostropovich. Opera is much less frequent than
in the 19th century, but famous singers like Magda Olivero, Rosanna
Carteri, Cecilia Gasdia and Mirella Freni have sung at the Manoel to great
applause.
Among visiting drama companies, special mention must be made of the
Nottingham Playhouse, the Comedie Francaise, the Young Vic and Cheek by
Jowl while great actors like Donald Wolfit, John Neville, Franca Valeri and
Michael MacLiammoir have appeared in one man shows or with a full company.
Performances in English and Maltese by Maltese amateur and
semi-professional companies are frequent. Most of the plays by the great
Maltese dramatist Francis Ebejer received their first performance in this
Theatre between 1962 and 1985.
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