Theatre censorship set to be a thing of the past

Photo from an Off-Broadway production of Stitching. Banned in Malta in 2009, the play was staged with a 14 rating in the UK.

Teodor Reljic

Though the death of theatre censorship as we know it was signalled by Minister for Culture Mario de Marco as early as January, the long-awaited decision to strip the Police of all matters related to classification of film and theatre was finally passed in its second reading in parliament yesterday, which signifies broad agreement on its contents from both sides of the House.

The act officialises a proposal to transfer all laws regulating the classification of film and theatre productions from the Police to the Ministry for Culture.

The move comes in the wake of an often-torturous censorship debate which was sparked more than once on the island over the last couple of years, impacting more than just the theatrical scene.

Pia Zammit and Mikhail Basmadjan

It was the landmark 'Stitching' case that brought the issue to public attention, however, after local drama company Unifaun Theatre attempted to stage the UK drama -penned by Anthony Nielson, and staged in Edinburgh with a '14' rating -in 2009, only to be banned by the Film and Classification Board at the time.

READ MORE: Censored no more what is the future of Maltese theatre?

The Board itself has since been dissolved in favour of a system of self-regulation - as proposed by de Marco in the original draft law calling for a relaxation on censorship laws -however this particular proposal remains to be formalised.

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Theatre censorship set to be a thing of the past