Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1491702
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 FEBRUARY 2023 COMMENT Abortion debate in Poland shames PN stance JAMES DEBONO PAGE 4 The Skinny Malta, shrunk down MICHAEL FALZON A mountain about casual talk PAGE 7 SAVIOUR BALZAN Enough of the green light and more red cards please PAGE 5 EDITORIAL The PN's waning influence PAGE 2 JOSANNE CASSAR Where do we draw the line at cancel culture? PAGE 6 "If a woman knows that the State is not the gloomy eye of Sauron that wants to control her, deprive her of rights, deprive her of the possibility of making decisions, if the state is open then women will be more ready to take on the great task of motherhood." What are we skinning? The news that Mary Spiteri, be- loved Maltese pop singer of early Eurovision near-win- ner Little Child and 'Labour musical epic' Ġensna fame, will see her life commemo- rated in a full-blown musi- cal extravaganza as part of the Valletta Cultural Agen- cy's 2023 programme. Why are we skinning it? Mainly because it's just the kind of lunatic-tonic we need as the weather gets grimmer and the murderous news decides to match it up, but also because it speaks volumes about Malta's rela- tionship with both spectacle and hero worship. Care to crack those vol- umes open? Nah, I'll leave that up to the academics. Let's focus on the other bit. Okay. But first you gotta explain to me what this 'Valletta Cultural Agency' is. Well, remember when our capital city took on the mantle of European Capital of Culture back in 2018? Yes, and the legacy it left behind was that of a city hollowed out of all life in favour of becoming a gen- trified hell hole with bou- tique hotels crammed at each corner. Go on... Yes, well. After 2018 shuffled off its allotted mortal coil, the benchwarmers at the helm of the Valletta 2018 Foundation needed a new home... et voila! The Val- letta Cultural Agency was born! A miracle! When they say the arts are magic, this is what they mean. So it's thanks to them that we'll be getting Mary Spi- teri: The Musical? Little Child Will Rock You will indeed be a VCA project through and through. Please tell me that's the official title. Alas, no. They went with the far more pro- saic Mary Spiteri: My Life. Missed a trick, there. You know what they've also missed? What? The opportunity to stage this at The Granaries for that full mass meeting effect. Instead, it's being given the antiseptic 'herit- age' treatment at the Medi- terranean Conference Cen- tre. They understand spectacle, but they don't understand their people. They are a gentrifying agency, after all. Do say: "Mary Spiteri is cer- tainly a notable figure in Maltese pop culture, but a full-blown production about her life and times feels a tad too grandiose." Don't say: "A tad too gran- diose? Unearned pomposity is part and parcel of the Mal- tese programme... VCA or otherwise. Get with it, kids!" No. 177 – Little Child Will Rock You