Always Be Like a Dragon by multi-award-winning playwright Espi Tomičić is an intimate and powerful drama that moves between memory, imagination and reality.
The play follows Petar, a trans man in therapy, as he revisits fragments of his childhood. Through conversations with his therapist and a chorus of voices from past and present, Petar reconstructs memories of a defining moment in his life, when he was still Matea. These memories unfold in shifting layers, where documentary realism blends with poetic reflection.
At the heart of the story is an abandoned apartment where Matea, her mother Jana and her siblings seek refuge from poverty and homelessness. Within this fragile space, the children invent a game of war, transforming the empty apartment into a military base. But beneath the playfulness, deeper tensions emerge. The children begin to confront questions of identity, family relationships, class insecurity and the unspoken traumas that shape their lives.
Blurring the line between drama and therapy, Always Be Like a Dragon invites audiences into a theatrical journey through fear, memory and resilience. It is a moving exploration of childhood, survival and the ways in which imagination can help us face even the most difficult truths.
Always Be Like a Dragon by multi-award-winning playwright Espi Tomičić is an intimate and powerful drama that moves between memory, imagination and reality.
The play follows Petar, a trans man in therapy, as he revisits fragments of his childhood. Through conversations with his therapist and a chorus of voices from past and present, Petar reconstructs memories of a defining moment in his life, when he was still Matea. These memories unfold in shifting layers, where documentary realism blends with poetic reflection.
At the heart of the story is an abandoned apartment where Matea, her mother Jana and her siblings seek refuge from poverty and homelessness. Within this fragile space, the children invent a game of war, transforming the empty apartment into a military base. But beneath the playfulness, deeper tensions emerge. The children begin to confront questions of identity, family relationships, class insecurity and the unspoken traumas that shape their lives.
Blurring the line between drama and therapy, Always Be Like a Dragon invites audiences into a theatrical journey through fear, memory and resilience. It is a moving exploration of childhood, survival and the ways in which imagination can help us face even the most difficult truths.
The play follows Petar, a trans man in therapy, as he revisits fragments of his childhood. Through conversations with his therapist and a chorus of voices from past and present, Petar reconstructs memories of a defining moment in his life, when he was still Matea. These memories unfold in shifting layers, where documentary realism blends with poetic reflection.
At the heart of the story is an abandoned apartment where Matea, her mother Jana and her siblings seek refuge from poverty and homelessness. Within this fragile space, the children invent a game of war, transforming the empty apartment into a military base. But beneath the playfulness, deeper tensions emerge. The children begin to confront questions of identity, family relationships, class insecurity and the unspoken traumas that shape their lives.
Blurring the line between drama and therapy, Always Be Like a Dragon invites audiences into a theatrical journey through fear, memory and resilience. It is a moving exploration of childhood, survival and the ways in which imagination can help us face even the most difficult truths.
Info
Production year
2026
Producer
Teatru Malta (NAPA)
Venue
Teatru Manoel
In Theatres
20/04/2026