Life&Style February Issue - MaltaRightNow.com

| FIRST PERSON |
LEFT: Playing ‘Musetta’ in La Boheme at Glyndebourne Opera 1999
BOTTOM: Denise in her Valletta apartment
auditions with no idea of what I was doing - in the theory
exam I drew pictures of the other people taking the test.
Thankfully, my entry to the college didn’t live or die with
my performance in the theory test and they offered me a
place on the spot!
I moved to London the following year - in 1988 - and
loved it from the moment I unpacked. I left college after
five years and started work. My first job almost put me
off for life - it was for a then very avant-garde opera
company that had a reputation for opera in the nude!
I was then lucky enough to understudy the fantastic
soprano Renee Fleming at Glyndebourne Festival Opera.
I was reliably informed by everyone that she was never
ill. Of course, the second show she went down with some
lurgi and I had to go on - with no rehearsal whatsoever
– yet it all went very well. As a result of that I won some
prizes and got lots of job offers. This went on for years
and I was lucky enough to actually earn a living as a
singer. I got to travel and tour; I got married, and sadly, I
got divorced; I moved house a lot. I got very tired of living
out of a suitcase and never seeing anyone I actually liked
- so I decided to call it quits and - with the exception of
one concert in Malta - haven’t sung in public since.
My first contact with Malta happened when I met a
foreign pianist at the Royal College of Music. Turned out
she was from Malta, was called Rosetta de Battista and
she has been one of my closest friends ever since. It was
through Ros that I was invited to sing in Malta in a fundraiser
for the Community Chest Fund. From the moment
I got here I just loved it. I came over frequently after that
and a few years later I was employed by Masquerade
Theatre Company to co-run a summer drama course
and through that course and many subsequent ones I
met lots of theatre people and made some good friends.
The idea that I would settle here at some point was
always in my mind, but it wasn’t until 2005, when I
bought an apartment in Valletta – my favourite place in
Malta - that it began to feel like a reality.
Meanwhile back in the UK I was getting itchy feet
again. I had been talking about moving here for so long, it seemed like the ideal time
to actually make the move. Obviously there were major concerns - I would be leaving
my family, my friends, my colleagues, my home and most tragically my cat. My cat has
been in my life through thick and thin (mostly thick as he is a somewhat rotund feline).
When my life was at its darkest during my divorce, Findlay was a splendid furry pillow to
cry into.
I am lucky to have the support of Edward and Marika Mercieca who run StageCoach
Theatre School. We are working on some very interesting projects for the future and I
like the fact that I get to work with kids and write shows for them. When I’m not doing
that, I am directing Stephen Sondheim’s ‘COMPANY’ for MADC. Thankfully Rosetta
is the musical director, which is just brilliant. The music is, like all Sondheim, just
wonderful but it is very difficult to learn and I take my hat off to Rosetta and to the
astonishing cast who are working their ***** off.
COMPANY is a play with music set in New York. Bobby, our hero, is turning 35 and is
still single. All his married friends think he should be married too - the only person who
is not so sure is Bobby. Despite their best efforts, it’s their marriages that are putting
Bobby off the idea! A show like COMPANY is all about frailties of human nature and
about real-life relationships. To tackle a show like this you need actors who are open
and honest, hardworking and dedicated. I am completely in awe of our cast - they are a
phenomenal group of singing actors.
COMPANY will have a resonance with everyone who watches it – whether single,
in a relationship, newly married, newly separated or celebrating their Golden wedding
anniversary. There is something in this show that will make everyone think ‘that is
exactly how I felt!’ The themes of friendship, loneliness, and love are universal and the
show is really, really funny. Sondheim wanted his audience to split their sides laughing
then go home and think about it afterwards … that is exactly what we want too. .
A TV interview with Denise Mulholland will be shown on Net TV’s ‘Mhux Ghal Kulhadd’
on 14 February. Company will be staged at the Manoel Theatre on the 23-25 February
and 2-4 March. Bookings from the Manoel Theatre Booking Office on telephone
21246389 / email bookings@teatrumanoel.com.mt / website www.teatrumanoel.com.mt
L&s | FEBRUARY ’07 21