Alan Fenech
Alan made his debut on stage at the age of 10 and on television at the age of 13. The passion for drama passed on to him by his father soon became a part of him and at the age of 16, Alan entered M.T.A.D.A from which he graduated after finishing the full course 5 years later. Alan also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Studies from the University of Malta, later furthering his studies with a Post Graduate certificate in Education and a Master of Arts in Journalism. He has recently attained a Master of Arts degree in Film Studies at the University of Malta during which course he chose to focus on screenwriting and direction.
Alan soon established himself as an actor in the local scene interpreting many main roles both in theatre and television. As an actor on local TV, Alan interpreted a number of leading and supporting roles in serieses such as Fenomeni, F’Baħar Wieħed, Stejjer ta’ wara t-tmienja, Delitti f’Malta, Nirien ta’ Mħabba, Numru 9 : It-tieni half, Erwieħ Imsakkra, Tgħanniqa, Arena, Erwieħ Imsakkra 2, Is-siġill tal-qrar and Iċ-Ċaqqufa. Alan also played featured roles in international films such as “Blackbeard: the true pirate of the Carribean”, “The Da Vinci Code” and “Project Icon” (in post-production) and a secondary role in the Italian film “Ghost Track” and the international docu-drama “God’s Soldiers” (in post-production).
Alan is also known as a screenwriter. His first full feature script was that of the highly acclaimed TV film Scrooge released in 2008 (nominated for Best Script and Best One-off Production) which he also co-produced with Tony Parnis and in which he also played the role of Bob Cratchit. Alan also wrote various scripts for TV including the series “Erwieħ Imsakkra 2” which was nominated for Best TV Series in the Malta Television Awards, “Arena” and the most recent “Deheb il-Karta” (currently being aired on TVM) and episodes for the series “Stejjer ta’ wara t-tmienja” and “Aenigma” as well as a number of commercials, music videos and short films. In 2005 Alan won the award for best director in the National Film Festival for the short film Mela Darba which he also produced. The film also came second over-all and won the award for best acting performance. Recently Alan served as Art Director and First Assistant for the Short Film “Il-Ħadd” (accepted at the Oscar-qualifying St. Louis Film Festival) which won three awards in the Malta Youth Film Festival. Alan’s Works as a screenwriter also include the feature film “Riħ mix-Xlokk”, an adaptation of Francis Ebejer’s novel “A wreath for the innocent” (currently in pre-production) and was part of the team of screenwriters for the full-feature film “Dejjem” (currently in production). In the coming months he will be directing the opera film “Blat” for which he also wrote the screenplay.
Theatre roles include: Zorzetto in Carlo Goldoni’s Il Campiello, Rafiluccio in Eduardo De Filippo’s Il Sindaco del Rione Sanità, Speditu in Aleatea’s Il-Kaxxa, Romeo in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, French Official in Oliver Friggieri’s Rewwixta, Bassanio in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Boxer in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Lennox in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Proteus in Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, Zac in Louis Nowra’s Così, Grandmaster Ximenes in Alfred Buttigieg’s Ir-Rewwixta tal-Qassisin, Man in Earwigs, Florindo in Carlo Goldoni’s Il servitore di due padroni , Flavio in Mario Philip Azzopardi’s Xbihat ta’ xi whud li huma kattolici , David in Guzè Chetchuti’s Il-Kerrejja, Michele in Eduardo de Filippo’s Filumena Marturano, Jokanaan in Oscar Wilde’s Salome’, Odisseus in Euripedes’ Hekuba, Spettatur in Oreste Calleja’s Iġsma Iħirsa and Helmut in Vincent Vella’s Wara l-Ħajt. He is also known for his interpretation of Jesus Christ in various productions. Alan is also a well-established theatre director and writer with his most recent producions being “1565: First and Last Hope” and “Apostolo Gentivm” the first play to introduce 3D mapping to theatre locally. His play “Sejjieħ” placed second in the Malta Social Theatre Mini-Festival in 2013.
Alan has attended various seminars, workshops and theatre exchanges abroad including The International Theatre Encounter in Besancon in July 1997 (while still a drama student), European Screenwriting Workshop in Sitges in February 2005 and the Oralities Project in Mertola in November 2009 where he directed and played in Fuq l-ghatba. He is also the founder and Festival Director of the Malta International Theatre Festival and the Head of School of the Malta School of Drama and Dance. Alan Fenech together with Michelle Zerafa is co-founder and co-director of Vermiglio Theatre Productions.