Grandma, Temi and the Crimean Fever

This site-specific solo performance took form of a semi-fictional guided tour around the Valletta’s Palazzo Castellania, headquarters to the Ministry of Health. The journey culminated in a tiny, unattended room that holds the knowledge of many decades of medical research in Malta. It was in this laboratory in 1905 that physician and archaeologist Sir Themistocles Zammit discovered the Mediterranean strain of Brucellosis, also known as Crimean fever, or Maltese fever. The story “reveals” the connection between Melkonyan’s great grandmother and Sir Zammit’s research, intertwining personal narrative with national history of science. The guided tour was presented as the factual story to the audience, with just occasional use of such words as “theatre” and “performance” in the program, leaving the visitors to decide themselves what is trustworthy in this private view on History.