Banned in Malta - Hurray! for common decency

[Anonymous]

from the directorr of such works as

The Death of Klinghoffer

http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/a ... cleID=1284

and many more disturbing mind rotting drivel

Comes

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show ... ature.html

Valletta, Malta - Two actors wrestle on a living room carpet in an apartment in Malta as they fight for possession of a sex toy. A handful of journalists sit on the floor, attentively watching a rehearsal of Briton Anthony Neilson's 2002 play, Stitching.

This may well be closest the performance will ever come to having an audience in Malta.

Rehearsals have been going on for three months, but the actors and producers fear their efforts may have been in vain.

The Maltese Board of Film and Stage Classification has banned the staging of Stitching, a controversial decision which has split public opinion in the staunchly Roman Catholic island-nation.

According to the classification board the play is "an insult to human dignity from beginning to end."

The play graphically explores sexual servitude and abortion and also makes reference to the Holocaust and serial killers. It prompted several spectator-walkouts during its staging at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival.

But now the play has become a symbol for the Maltese artistic community's fight against what it says is unacceptable state censorship in a European Union member country.

Classification Board chairwoman Therese Friggieri argued that Stiching's script, "not only contains obscene language but also offends religious sentiment."

The play includes decadent material, shameful and perverted content of a sexual and sado-masochistic nature and offensive references to the victims of the Nazi-death camp, Auschwitz, she said.

Culture Minister Dolores Cristina had defended the board's decision saying that while freedom of expression is a basic human right, but like every other right, it is not "absolute."

But critics say the gagging order defies a 2002 recommendation by the human rights watchdog body, the Council of Europe, for stage censorship to be abolished in Malta.

"It is absurd for the censors to give their interpretation of the play without seeing it performed ... the text is a work of art that is only half-formed, it needs the actors to give it meaning," the play's director Chris Gatt, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.

Meanwhile, producers Unifaun Theatre have started a legal battle to overturn the decision.

The play was initially scheduled to be staged at the state-run James Cavalier theatre, but the ban ruled out the venue.

Unifaun then began looking for alternative premises, but allege initial offers were withdrawn by people "fearing repercussions."

The producers now say that if they lose their case at home - a court date has yet to be set - they will take it to the European Court of Human Rights.

Playwright Neilson is seeking support abroad and has launched a petition among London's theatre industry to pressure the Maltese government into divesting the board of its right to censor or ban productions.

Petitions for the ban to be lifted are also circulating on Facebook, the internet social networking site.

When the 75-minute rehearsal is over, the journalists have contrasting views on the play, none of them however, believe that it should have been banned.

"This is a tragic love story; a psychological drama. Are we in a position where as adults we cannot examine our darker sense of sexuality?" said Gatt, one of Malta's most renowned theatre directors.

"We are in a situation where the arts in Malta have moved on, and the laws on film and stage classification have changed very little since 1937," he said.

[Anonymous]

The reasons given for banning Stitching are as follows:

1 Blasphemy against the state religion – pages 10 and 17
2 Obscene contempt for the victims of Auschwitz – page 29
3 An encyclopaedic review of dangerous sexual perversions leading to sexual servitude – eg pages 33, 34 and several others
4 Abby's eulogy to the child murderers, Fred and Rosemary West – page 35
5 Reference to the abduction, sexual assault and murder of children – page 36

[QuiteCharming]

Common decency? If this play violated one's sense of good taste, wouldn't it be more prudent to simply not go see it? I don't think Malta had the right to stifle this type of expression due to the fact that it makes some people uneasy. Let the public be the judge. If everyone is truly disgusted by it, then it won't have a long run. Just my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Common decency? If this play violated one's sense of good taste, wouldn't it be more prudent to simply not go see it? I don't think Malta had the right to stifle this type of expression due to the fact that it makes some people uneasy. Let the public be the judge. If everyone is truly disgusted by it, then it won't have a long run. Just my opinion.

ah! you sir put more faith in the simple people than is due. in a perfect world, yes i would agree with you. but since the majority is simply manipulated to the left or to the right by the use of sophisticated propaganda designed to wear down the moral fiber of the individual, it would be ok in my book that someone stood up on behalf of the herd and said masterbating to naked children headed for the ilusionionary gas chambers is enough to justify banning the sickness that plagues our society.

go watch it in the US or UK where filth it is permitted

but the point you missed most likely is that the local community decision will most likely be over ruled by the EU.

but you are entitled to your opinion