Maltese Actress Stresses Importance Of ‘Ground Rules’ For Nudity And ‘Acts Of A Sexual Nature’ During Auditions

This weekend, Maltese actor John Suda was given a suspended sentence after a court found him guilty of sexually assaulting and humiliating a 22-year-old actress. And, rightly so, the local acting community is enraged.

Not only did many believe Suda received a light punishment, but lack of severity in the Court’s response points to one of the many reasons most victims refuse to speak up; the perpetuators are hardly ever appropriately punished.

In a Facebook post, local actress and activist Pia Zammit brought attention to the proposals by the Association of Performing Arts Practitioners (APAP) on legislation on nudity on stage and film. Included in it is a range of procedures that should be taken when nude scenes or scenes of a sexual nature are involved. The article mentions that auditions that include acts of a sexual nature may only occur if a third party (an observer) agreeable to the performer is present, and an inform consent is provided before the audition takes place. It also specifies that nude scenes or scenes of a sexual nature should be planned with the performer beforehand.

“I think it may be a good time to share this again,” Zammit said. “I urge theatre production companies to do the same thing. Information is power. Awareness is power.”

These are only guidelines and so are not binding to the parties involved in nude or sexual scenes.

However, the Suda case provides the perfect opportunity for discussions to be opened up with the appropriate authorities to draft legislation on nudity in theatre so that cases like this can be reduced or prevented.

Let us know what you think of implementing APAP’s proposal as official legislation in the comments below.

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