What do MOONRAKER, THE MUMMY, and the ASTRA THEATRE
have in common? – PETER HOWITT!

By Sabine Cassar-Alpert
Photos: Chris Cini

On November 8^th, 2003, the last day of that year’s Festival Mediterranea, a fire originating in a switchboard quickly spread and caused severe damage to cinema and stage facilities. Part of the theatre’s roof caved in. Miraculously no one was injured, but the festival’s final gala night had to be quickly re-scheduled to take place at St George's Basilica instead.

Almost two years to the day the Astra Theatre will return to centre stage in new splendour just in time for the Festival Mediterranea 2005. Puccini’s opera 'La Bohème' will be staged on October 27^th, featuring the National Orchestra and tenor Joseph Calleja, directed by Joseph Vella.

The internationally acclaimed stage set designer Peter Howitt led the ambitious restoration and redecoration works. The necessary finances where raised by supporters and admirers of the Astra Theatre, and countless volunteers helped to keep the costs as low as possible. Upon completion some 220,000 Maltese Liri will have been spent, according to Dolindo Cassar, president of the Leone Band Society that operates the Astra Theatre.

Originally hailing from Wimbledon in England, Peter Howitt first set foot on Malta in the sixties, when he had a house in Libya and was looking for an ideal vacation spot within easy reach. Like many visitors, he found himself drawn to Gozo rather than its big sister and before long, acquired a property here. “I was the first foreigner to buy a farmhouse in Gharb,” he states proudly. As a matter of fact, he continued to live in Gharb until about five years ago, when health concerns forced him to move to Malta, “to be closer to better medical care”, should the need arise.

It was the simplicity of the islands as well as its people that fascinated him. “The people over here were – and still are – very indifferent to my fame,” Peter chuckles, “and that’s what I love. For many years nobody even knew what I was doing for a living!” That must be a refreshing change indeed for someone whose filmography lists some 35 titles, and who received two Oscars and five nominations for set design and artistic direction!

The main difference between his work on the big movies and stage set design in Malta is money, he says. Vast and extravagant film sets like those of ‘Moonraker’, ‘Braveheart’ or ‘The Mummy’ had enormous budgets, and unlimited funds for research. “It’s a great way to work if you can build on such research and then use your creativity and imagination to change things around the way you like,” Peter explains.

He loves talking about his work – but his lively pale-blue eyes really start twinkling when he describes how he created “incredibly good taste” throughout the film set of ‘The Great Gatsby’, or the lavish buffet for ‘Elizabeth’.

So how did Peter Howitt get involved in the restoration works on the Astra Theatre? “Well…,” he chuckles again, pointing at Dolindo Cassar, “he asked me about it, then with the second breath he came out with ‘we don’t have a lot of money’ and with the third breath he hired me.”

Limited funds did not stop Dolindo from presenting him with photos of Europe’s greatest theatres like Milan’s Scala and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. And Peter Howitt came up with a fabulous design by mixing the ‘old’ Astra with some of the more glamorous opera houses, adding modern technology and putting great emphasis on colours of the islands’ natural stone look.

Clearing out massive amounts of rubble, repairing the ceiling and “working out colours that were affordable” were the main challenges in the Astra’s restoration. Peter has nothing but praise for the local craftsmen, who show a “great willingness to work and an amazing audacity. You never hear them say ‘that can’t be done’; they face all challenges with an open mind. They are simply great people to work with!”

The only challenge left now is getting it all done in time: the countdown to the great theatre’s renaissance is ticking fast!