Għażiż Francis

Għażiż Francis is not a biography of Francis Ebejer, but a drama production weaving a series of memories and thoughts about undoubtedly Malta’s most important playwright and novelist of the post-war period until his death in 1993. Peter and Pino engage in conversation highlighting their personal encounters and memories, interlaced with animated scenes from some of Ebejer's most memorable plays, poems and other writings.

Ebejer wrote most of his fiction in English and most of his plays in Maltese, although he translated many of them into English himself. While his early experimental plays endeared him with theatre critics, the plays he wrote in the seventies seemed to strike a chord with theatre-goers and became remarkable box-office hits, possibly because of the realistic way he portrayed the preoccupations of the middle-class in post-Independence Malta.

Għażiż Francis was first staged in 2007 as part of the Malta International Arts Festival and is being revived to commemorate the centenary of Ebejer's birth in 1925, with the production touring various localities in Malta during 2025. This production is dedicated to all those who knew, worked and argued witn Francis: his actors, his directors, his translators and his students.

The play features Davide Tucci and Ron Briffa in the man roles and a dozen other of Malta's finest actors. Peter Busuttil directs the production. Research, adaptation and script is by Marco Galea, based on Francis Ebejer's plays and novels. Music is by Aldo Spiteri and Mark Spiteri.