Play on Malta’s abortion ban to show at Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Two Maltese theatre artists and activists will perform their award-winning production on Malta’s strict abortion laws this summer at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, one of the largest arts festivals in Europe.
Abortion remains a great taboo in Malta, the only EU country where the procedure is completely illegal.
Following three years of interviews with women who anonymously contributed their own experiences, actors Marta Vella and Davinia Hamilton interrogate those strict laws in Blanket Ban.
Presented by Chalk Line Theatre, Blanket Ban was one of the winners of the Untapped Award, given by New Diorama Theatre, Underbelly & Methuen Drama in the UK.
It provides a prime venue and time slot at the Underbelly event venue in Edinburgh.
Vella, Hamilton and director Vikesh Godhwani speak of the play as a “consciousness-raising exercise”.
The two artists started brainstorming for the play in 2019 when Malta held its first pro-choice rally, organised by Voice for Choice.
Despite going into lockdown in 2020, the two spent their time conducting dozens of interviews over Zoom and were even funded by the Arts Council England to carry out research for the production.
“The play is a call to...