In recent days, a masked lady was seen roaming different streets of the island smashing dolls to pieces, totally giving us the creeps. Teatru Malta have confirmed that the masked lady, dubbed as the “Doll-Smasher of Zebbug” was in fact part of a series of street performances that was announced last January as part of their programme for 2019.

The masked lady was spotted in Zebbug, Marsaxlokk, Sliema and even during the Gudja village feast and is part of the project called ‘Min Hi?’ led  by local artist Ruben Zahra, inspired by a short story written by his legendary father, writer Trevor Zahra.

Teatru Malta have said that the fact that the performances were unannounced so far was by no means intended to be a publicity stunt. It was a purely artistic one directly related to the short story entitled Gerita, one that is part of his award-winning publication Penumbra that describes the story of a mysterious witch who travels from village to village. Well, it was performed to the tee!

In the story, “Gerita appeared for the very first time on the eve of the village feast; chopping up dolls with a nougat knife as she covered them in tomato ketchup.” Safe to say, nougat has been ruined for me. These pop-up shows, although related, are in no way tied to the 12+ age recommendation of the final four performances, which are happening at the Rialto.

“When Ruben and I were planning Min Hi?, the script and the show were created simultaneously, making sure one bounced off and complemented the other seamlessly,” says Trevor Zahra. “We hope that this will be a unique poetic experience of stylised macabre theatre, for everyone to enjoy.”

“Different demographics are bound to react differently and while some will find it challenging, others will just as well find it appalling and perhaps controversial even,” says Ruben. Teatru Malta’s artistic director states that, “It was very interesting to see how street theatre became the subject of fake news on social media. History of theatre has shown that street theatre can be very effective in instigating human conversation, it is produced regularly by theatre companies all over the world.”

Haven’t caught the Doll-Smasher yet? The street installations will continue to run until 12^th October, with two final shows taking place on Tuesday 8^th in front of Pjazza Teatru Rjal and in Birgu on Saturday 12^th during Birgufest. These two performances were the only ones intended to be announced, explaining the silence so far from Teatru Malta.

You can also catch the mysterious masked lady during a haunting one-woman theatre production on Thursday 31^st October. The Min Hi? Project is an hour-long production being stage at the spell-binding Rialto Theatre in Bormla, which will be the first time is many years that the theatre will be opening its doors to the public.

Intrigued? To book tickets for Min Hi? Visit kultura.mt or teatrumalta.org.mt for more information.