Nude and semi-nude scenes in local theatre and film have become more regular in the past few years and the Asociation for Performing Arts Practitioners (APAP) felt that the time was right to hold a debate on this delicate subject and to offer guidelines and best practice suggestions about this area of concern, theatre director Chris Gatt told The Malta Independent.

The Stitching director, speaking on behalf of APAP, was reacting to comments made by another theatre director, Mario Azzopardi, who said that actors were “putting the cart before the horse” by issuing these guidelines because acting in Malta “is not professional.” Mr Azzopardi suggested that, for this reason, Malta is not yet ready for nude scenes in theatre and film. He argued that Maltese actors were “living an illusion of professionalism” and that the APAP guidelines seemed to be a “cut and paste job” from professional entities whereas Malta has not yet reached the same level.

“Whilst taking on board Mr Azzopardi's comment that we are under some illusion that acting in Malta is professional, we feel that it is Mr Azzopardi who has not quite understood the rationale behind the submitted guidelines and others which are in the pipeline. It is partly because we recognise that the Maltese performing arts community is currently going through dramatic changes (pardon the pun), that we felt that these guidelines had to be issued, regardless of whether its status is professional or amateur.

Mr Azzopardi may not have noticed, possibly because he has now spent some time away from the local theatrical scene, and also because he has spent some time abroad, that there have been quite a number of theatre productions in recent years which have included nude or partially nude scenes.  A number of actors have also been asked to take part in nude scenes in some of the films shot in Malta. 

There has also been an increase in the number of courses offering coaching as well as the establishment of a number of casting agencies. We therefore felt that it was the right time to hold a discussion about this delicate subject within the community itself and to offer guidelines and best practice suggestions about this area of concern.”

Mr Gatt said APAP was in total agreement with Mr Azzopardi that things need to be better organised and said the setting up of APAP “is a step forward  in terms of helping us professionalise the sector as well as offering a forum for discussion for areas of interest  that  affect the industry.”

Mr Azzopardi’s argument, however, was irrelevant to the current debate, he said. “We think his argument that Maltese performers are under some illusion of professionalism is irrelevant to the discussion in hand and is fundamentally wrong. It is a particularly wrong argument to make when one considers the growing number of performers who have been professionally trained, whether they are actors, singers or dancers. For example, we can now boast of at least two professional dance companies.

But it is not only stage-side that we are seeing an increasing willingness to professionalise this sector. And we can also point to the growing number of people who have taken up Arts Management. It is in this spirit and with a proactive sense of moving forward that we offered these guidelines.

Once more  we appeal to  people in this sector (and here we stress that APAP would like to see representatives for all the sectors of the Performing Arts and all areas, including technical, backstage and producers) to come forward and make their  voices heard. The more organised we are, the better we can be heard.”