What would you do, if a person you deeply loved, was taken away in the middle of the night. You know the captors, but you do not know where they are. All you know is that if you try and help them you can end up in the same situation, if not worse.

Reflect upon this, that those captured are being tortured and accused of false crimes because they are an obstacle to those in power. This is reality, a current injustice that is happening right now.

This experience is being brought to the stage by new theatrical group Ixidor in L-Ghalliema, based on La Maestra written by renowned Mexican playwright Enrique Buenaventura. The play’s setting is a timeless village where the leading character is a young woman known as the schoolteacher, who witnesses the life she once knew, and that of her loved ones, slowly being eroded away in front of her, by a man she thought was her friend. Her tale is about real people’s suffering, and this injustice is brought to our attention through newspaper headlines. Since we have heard this kind of story on this news, time and again, we probably give it a split second’s thought and simply go about our daily lives, because the victims on the news are faceless, and news items are just words. L-Ghalliema transposes these anonymities and breathes life into these characters whose existence is torn apart by blatant political corruption. Their story must be told and we are the witnesses who cannot simply walk away.

This play is being produced in collaboration with Amnesty International, Malta. It will be staged on 3 and 4 March at the MITP, St. Christopher Street, Valletta at 8pm. Actors taking part are Christine Borg, Sharon Bezzina, Mario Abela, Stephen Buhagiar, Daniela Delia, Elisa Delia and Adrian Azzopardi directed by Charles Sammut. Tickets can be bought from the St James Cavalier box office (telephone 2122-3200).