Banned in Malta, Stitching gets '14' rating at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
It is too hard-hitting to be performed in any theatre in Malta, but Anthony Nielson's Stitching is rated as suitable for teenagers as young as 14 at one of the UK's most influential arts festival
15 July 2010, 12:00am
Raphael Vassallo
Raphael Vassallo
2 min read
Anthony Nielson’s controversial two-actor drama Stitching – banned outright in Malta for ‘blasphemy’ and ‘trivialising the Holocaust’, among other reasons – has been given a ‘14+’ rating at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
This is the second time Nielson’s award-winning play is being performed at the prestigious arts festival, after premiering at the 2002 edition. Since then, Stitching has been staged to critical acclaim across the world – including Germany, where trivialising the Holocaust is a crime, and Turkey.
But when local production company Unifaun Theatre tried to put it on at the St James Centre for Creativity in Malta last year, the Film and Stage Classification Board issued a blanket ban on the performance, arguing that Nielson’s hard-hitting drama was “an insult to human dignity from beginning to end.”
This view was upheld earlier this month by the Civil Court, which turned down the producers’ appeal against the ban. Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon noted in his ruling that “extensive use of vulgar, obscene and blasphemous language that exalts perversion, vilifies the right to life... makes fun of the suffering of women in the Holocaust, and reduces women to a simple object of sexual satisfaction... cannot be used."
Zammit McKeon ruled that blasphemy remains a crime even if uttered as part of a work of fiction: “According to our law, the very fact that a person swears in public, regardless of the reason, is a contravention.” Furthermore, the Civil Court described Stitching – the same play deemed suitable for adolescents as young as 14 in the UK – as "an offence to the whole culture of the country".
Both the censors’ ban and the Civil Court ruling was based only on a reading of the play, and not a performance. ‘Stitching’ is being performed at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe by Sell a Door Theatre from 4 - 30 August.
Carm Cachia •
that is exactly what i was aiming at.
majority in this country can decide that the milk is black on a referendum.
Free speech is free speech, regardless of what community standards are.
The right of free speech stops when the incitements to violence starts. Seeing boobs in a film, discussing abortion in a play, dressing as a nun during carnival or writing an essay on sexually dysfunctional guy should be protected not punished by law.
carmel duca •
Try using that argument in Saudi Arabia.
Patrick Calleja •
I guess that one Maltese author got his title wrong; stejjer ta Therese would have been more appropriate!
Alfred Galea •
Women's right to vote is not based on community standards, censorship is.
Every democratic society has some sort of censorship, some are stricter than others.
In my humble opiniuon, the reason Malta's laws are stricter is because of the fact that "supposedly" we are 99.99% catholic. And that has a lot of influence on the people who make these laws.
In Malta we're brought up to believe that if you look at a nude woman you're committing a sin, either of lusting or of coveting, while in other countries whose population are not catholics they don't have that "burden" and so they see nothing wrong about looking at a naked woman.
Michael, I hope that you're not saying that it takes obscenity or soft pornography for Maltese artists to produce "proper" plays.
Albert Zammit •
What a far cry from Therese Friggieri's standards. She is well-known for her standards, demanding an '18' viewing for petty plays that are directed by Maltese artists, and thus reducing all kinds of such drama in the Maltese scene. This is the same person, who boasts so much at being cultured and who cultivates a sense of the 'Made-in-Malta' art. Well, no wonder nobody produces proper plays anymore in Malta and we have the same regurgitated pieces.
carmel duca •
I think Aca meant the difference between women's right to vote and censorship. I'd like to know, too. (On a level of principle, naturally)
Alfred Galea •
Difference in community standards?? Very simple, there's probably different nationalities, with different religions and different cultures living there as compared with just one nationality with the same religion and culture.
Even in the US, there are different obscenity laws that differ from state to state, say from from the NY liberals to the Southern Baptists.
Carm Cachia •
what is the difference joe south?
Alfred Galea •
That's why I said MIGHT not be good for the gander.......gommunity standards differ from one country to another, sometimes even from one state or province to another. What might be acceptable to the Scots might not be acceptable to the Maltese, EU membership notwithstanding.
Do not, for a minute think that in four/five years of EU membership, the community standards have changed at all in Malta.
They haven't and they will not for another 20/30 years at least.And even then they'll be more strict than other countries for the simple reason of the RCC's influence on at least one political party and because of thast influence being protected by the constitution.
Rafe, you're too smart to compare women's right to vote with obscenity laws. Or censorship.
carmel duca •
...21st century, even. Now, I wonder why I got that wrong the first time...
carmel duca •
You've turned the expression on its head. It's actually 'what's good for the goose is good for the gander' (I know it as 'sauce for the goose', but anyway). I think you'll find it means the direct opposite of what you had in mind.
In any case, you're missing the entire point. Malta may have different laws, but it is also populated by people living in the EU in the 20th century. If people thought like you in 1945, women would have been told to forget the right to vote, because 'we have different laws... get over it'.
Alfred Galea •
Every country has its own laws....what's good for the goose might not be good for the gander. Get over it.
Patrick Calleja •
According to a fervent acolyte, columnist and defender of anything GonziPN goes, the PN is the "liberal" Party; with Dario Fo as our Justice Minister! What a joke!
