Blanket Ban Reviews ★★★★

"Hard-hitting docu play about Malta’s oppressive total ban on abortions"

"‘Blanket Ban’ is a protest and incisive call to action."

"As the duo bounce from one section to the next, the fluidity of their movement is rapid and sketchy. There’s video projections, dress-ups, re-enactments and conversational revelation. Elsewhere, there’s some flailing dance sections where one actor dressed in blue fabric becomes the sea, and another of stylised clownish japery. Together, it is haphazardly chaotic.
But, with a central topic so pressing and pitiful, it makes picking serious holes in ‘Blanket Ban’ difficult."

"This is a theatre birthed out of exasperation, and you leave fired up to fight for women’s rights to their own bodies both locally and further afield."

"Startling account of abortion laws in Malta"

"Maltese duo use firsthand interviews – and warm humour – to highlight the lack of reproductive rights on the island"

"Effortlessly treading the line between buoyant and sombre, writer-performers Vella and Davinia Hamilton delight in the joys of their home country – the sun, the sea, the exquisite food – while grappling with their shame and disgust at its draconian abortion laws."

"They are both incredibly funny performers, easy to laugh with and easy to like, making the sober, tragic notes land with an even firmer thud to your heart."

"By feeding us information through these individual stories, woven into their own accounts of childhood in Malta and snippets of history, Marta and Divinia create a complex, layered portrayal of the situation."

"Davinia Hamilton and Marta Vella’s exploration into Malta’s abortion ban is an eye-opening and urgent call to action."

"While the narrative fluctuates between documentary-style interviews, dramatisations of Maltese women's life-altering stories and visceral explorations of Malta's culture, Hamilton and Vella's simplistic yet powerful storytelling doesn't escape the emotions behind this piece."

"What also helps Hamilton and Vella's simple storytelling is the sparse, yet vibrant imagery. No big props are required, with Holly Ellis' lighting making something as simple as a golden ray capture the nostalgia of a sunny Malta beach."