A play focusing on Malta’s total abortion ban is receiving rave reviews at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Written and performed by Davinia Hamilton and Marta Vella, the play, Blanket Ban, is based on stories of women who are affected by the strict abortion laws in Malta.

The two London-based actresses are ecstatic at the reactions received so far.

“I’m really pleased and a little awed at the response the show has been getting,” Hamilton said.

Among the stories narrated are that of a woman who is forced to carry an unviable foetus to term and a young girl, raped and unable to terminate the resulting pregnancy.

A scene from the play

Produced by Chalkline Theatre, the stories of these women are told verbatim following three years of interviews with anonymous contributors.

In a five-star review of the show, Theatre Weekly described the play as “truthfully compelling and performed with such passion”.

A number of publications, including the UK Independent, listed it as one of the main shows to see at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Writer and director Ethan David Lee wrote on Twitter: “An emotionally raw investigation into the effects of Malta’s blanket ban on abortion. It’s impossible to leave this production without feeling the urgency of the issue.”

Impossible to leave this production without feeling the urgency of the issue- Writer and director Ethan David Lee

Vella and Hamilton have also received strong reactions from the crowd, including from American women who are still processing the supreme court’s controversial decision to overturn Roe vs Wade which is likely to remove the right to abortion in certain US states.

Speaking to Times of Malta, Vella said she hopes to take the show as far and wide as possible after the festival, including Malta.

Malta has one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the world and is the only EU country in the to prohibit abortion entirely.

Circumstances such as an unviable pregnancy, health risks to the mother, incest or rape are not considered to be valid reasons to terminate a pregnancy in Malta. 

Malta’s strict laws came to the fore in recent months after an American tourist in Malta suffered a miscarriage at 16 weeks but was forced to fly to Spain via an air ambulance to terminate her pregnancy.

However, opinions about abortion in Malta are changing and people are now more open to listen, according to Vella. “When I was growing up the topic was never discussed and ‘abortion is wrong’ was as far as the conversation went,” she said.

Pro-choice activism is definitely on the increase, especially among younger people, lawyer and activist Lara Dimitrijevic said.

Among young people, polls indicate there is an absolute majority for allowing abortion, including termination by choice, Dimitrijevic said.