Il-Pożittivi – a Maltese comedy drama about people living with HIV

Last night, Simon Bartolo’s play Il-Pożittivi finally premiered in front of a live audience.

The play directed by Toni Attard tackles the societal stigma surrounding people who live with HIV in Malta.

“We always talk about HIV as if it’s kind of the end of the world and it has to be so sad, so the desire was ‘If you’re gonna write something, please make it lighter, make it fun”, Toni Attard told Bonġu.

Written as a comedy drama, the plot is inspired by true stories anonymously shared by participants in a research project.

“I think it was revealing, even shocking at times, reading the transcripts, thinking that this is a different world. It’s purely based on stigmatisation before anything else”, Attard said.

Whilst the play doesn’t avoid clichés that homosexuals sometimes find themselves in, it conveys the message that HIV can affect anyone at any time.

“I have understood that there is some discussion going on how to make sex education better in schools. If that is a problem I would encourage any system possible to make that happen, because prevention already starts from that age”, actor Chris Vincent (‘Marcus’) said.

Bongu says

Rarely seen such audience reactions. If we could force you to buy a ticket, we definitely would.

“I know we’re not talking about majorities here. Even if it affects one person, and to me this is really important as a director, if a story is about one person and the voice of one person needs to be told, that deserves its space for the story to be told”, Toni Attard said.

Il-Pożittivi, Valletta Campus Theatre
daily until Sunday, 10 July 2022, at 20:30
Tickets: showshappening.com