‘Blanket Ban’: Award-Winning International Abortion Production To Hit Maltese Theatres
Multi-award-winning international hit Blanket Ban will be premiering in Malta at Spazju Kreattiv next month.
Written and performed by two Maltese women, Blanket Ban delves into the repercussions of Malta’s strict laws on abortion. This verbatim piece was created through interviews and extensive research. Documenting real-life stories and experiences, it invites its audiences to reflect on the country’s current situation.
Blanket Ban was funded by Arts Council England in its development, with periods of Research and Development at Artsadmin and Artsdepot between 2020 and 2022, both in London. In 2022, Blanket Ban won the prestigious Untapped Award, awarded by New Diorama Theatre, Underbelly, Borkowski PR and Methuen Drama.
This led to a critically acclaimed four-week run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2022, followed by a successful four-week run at The Southwark Playhouse in London in Spring 2023, resulting in it being an Off West End Awards (Offies) finalist. The play is published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama.
“Bringing Blanket Ban to Malta feels like a homecoming. After two incredible runs in Edinburgh and London, where so many audience members stayed behind to share their own stories, we’ve seen firsthand how deeply this conversation needs to be had,” writers and performers Marta Vella and Davinia Hamilton said.
“Malta’s abortion ban silences women, but their stories matter. This play is about giving them a platform. We invite audiences to come with an open heart and be part of this dialogue.”
Directors and Producers, Vikesh Godhwani and Sam Edmunds say, “It is an absolute honour for our theatre company, Chalk Line Theatre, to bring this show to Malta. We hope that it adds to the great work done by activists locally to create real long-lasting change.”
“Theatre can be a powerful force to spearhead much-needed debate and hopefully, Blanket Ban does its job in raising awareness about the reality of abortion in Malta, replacing sensationalist headlines with real human stories. Marta and Davinia’s script is an exercise in empathy, and we hope that people leave our show with a deeper understanding of people’s actual experiences.”
Blanket Ban received stellar ratings in the theatre industry with Theatre Weekly, SkinnyMagazine and MickeyJoTheatre all rating it five out of five stars.
Meanwhile, in a glowing review by the Guardian, Blanket Ban was rated four stars: “Effortlessly treading the line between buoyant and sombre.”
The show will premier on Friday 7th March and will be followed by a Women’s Day Panel on reproductive rights the next day. The spakers will be Professor Isabel Stabile, Dr Andrea Dibben, Dr Lara Dimitrijevic, and Francesca Fenech Conti.
Meanwhile, on the 15th, there will be another discussion entitled Making Political Theatre which will be attended by Davinia Hamilton, Marta Vella, Sam Edmunds and Vikesh Godhwani and chaired by Herman Grech.
The show will be performed on the 7th, 8th, 9th, 14th, 15th and 16th March at 8pm and 7pm on Sundays.
To grab a ticket, click here.
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