Blanket Ban

Winner of New Diorama, Underbelly and Methuen Drama’s Untapped Award 2022

Sometimes I’m afraid of this play.

Malta: Catholic kitsch, golden sun, deep blue sea, Eurovision - and a blanket ban on abortion.

Propelled by three years of interviews with anonymous contributors and their own lived experience, actors and activists Marta and Davinia interrogate Malta’s restrictions on the freedom of women.

What does it mean for your home to boast the world’s most progressive LGBTQIA rights, leading transgender laws - and a population that is almost unanimously anti-choice?

Blanket Ban is a rallying cry from award-winning Chalk Line Theatre. This edition was published to coincide with the production at Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh, in August 2022.

Davinia Hamilton is a performer, writer and activist. She did her training at ArtsEd, and has attended training workshops with Punchdrunk, Complicité, Clean Break, and Tangled Feet. Originally from Malta, Davinia now lives and works in London. She is a recent graduate of the Faber Academy’s Writing a Novel programme, under the tutelage of Nikesh Shukla. She is working on her first novel.

Marta Vella is a London-based actress and theatre practitioner originally from Malta. She has collaborated extensively with TOI TOI, Malta’s National Theatre’s educational programme, and co-founded her own theatre company FROLIC.

Chalk Line Theatre is a multi-award-winning company based in Luton, who tour work both nationally and internationally. They are Associate Artists at Next Generation Youth Theatre and a Graduate Emerging Company of New Diorama.