Theatre Makers mark 40 years since frontier reopening with ‘In the Still of the Night’

Theatre Makers did themselves proud with their closed frontier years production ‘In the Still of the Night’. It was a play to mark the 40th anniversary of the frontier reopening.

The play was on for three nights last week at the Spitfire Hall which had its seating and orientation adjusted to offer a more intimate ‘surrounding’ effect for the audience and the players of course.

With a huge cast of 24, including three young children and a classical guitarist Manuel Bonavia, who provided atmospheric musical interludes and also wrote two songs for the play, its story is dedicated to the generation of Gibraltarians who lived through the closed frontier years and those who shared their memories and anecdotes with writer and director Jackie Villa.

As plays go it was a lengthy one, over three hours, but its content was historically relevant, the players multigenerational, colourful and thoroughly entertaining throughout.

The play delves into themes of identity, resilience, community spirit and family. It also focuses on our meaning of ‘home’. It’s the final chapter in the historically based trilogy which started with ‘Llevame Donde Naci’(2015) and ‘Winds of Change’ (2018). This story explores the period between 1967’s Referendum and the Frontier reopening in 1985. I attended opening night, which was sold out and garnered for itself a long and noisy standing ovation, leaving many of us inspired to ponder on our own particular memories, much like those evoked by the play.

It was a triumph which reminded me of 60’s fringe theatre in London, with actors using gangways and catwalks as well as the full auditorium space for well-choreographed ensemble movement to punch the story home. Action starts two months after referendum day, when a bunch of housewives are taking down the bunting and hanging out washing ‘en la azotea’.

Male lead Kaigan Garcia, who plays Jonathan Gallardo, sung a great song ‘La luz que brilla en Mi’. As it turns out, he is the illegitimate son born out of a union here, whilst widow Araceli Ansaldo (played by Anne Balestrino Reyes) was in war-torn London during the evacuation. She is devastated to learn about him and tries to cover up his real identity in the plot. The young man turns up after his mother dies and he's taken in as a nephew. That is all about spicing up a story for patio life in the sixties.

Clever signposting aided by historical radio clips and period correct props, as well as informed chatter by the players and a clear narrative provided by Salvador (Harry Kumar) kept us abreast of political developments and nourished our appetite for the action in Yanito family life somewhere in the upper town.

In a few hundred words I could not hope to do justice to the many acts that made up a good story, well documented by highlighting events such as the closing of the frontier, and its eventual reopening after thirteen long years.

No opportunity to make mirth was lost on writer and director Jackie Villa, whose well drilled cast clearly enjoyed themselves giving life to nearly a score of colourful characters which included young people as well as older folk. I have to single out some players who elevated their characters. Zinah Porter, Anne Ballestrino Reyes, her brother Adrian and Roseanne Victor were up there as central characters. Kaigan Garcia and Erica Mc Grail played the main couple brilliantly. Charlie Bishop, Anthony Loddo and Tim Seed were also pillars of the play. Katie Reyes, Zuleika Green, Jocelyn Savignon-Johnson added to ‘los vecinos del patio’ and as mentioned earlier, Harry Kumar was the boy narrator from ‘el castillo’ who tuned into his radio and gave us history through the airwaves including clips of ‘Palabras al viento’ from the late Manolo Mascarenhas.

A play that let our history breathe and reminded us that closed frontier days were dark and they forged the community spirit that still exists today. As we still navigate troubled waters, it’s important that our younger generation keep alive memories of our darker days and steel themselves for a better future than the bitter past which the older generation had to struggle through.

‘In the still of the night’ closes a trilogy of essential drama that chronicles our social history from the evacuation to the opening of the frontier.

Well done all the players, the crew and anyone else who helped in any way make this production possible. Theatre makers should be well proud of this one. See you all again in January for ‘The Wizard of Oz’.