Produced by Palazzo Pereira as part of the Mara – Perspettivi calendar of events celebrating women, Eve Ensler’s piece (I prefer not to call it ‘a play’) has been stirring up equal measures of controversy and awareness since its inception way back in 1996 in a New York café basement.

Although visually not the most engaging piece ( in this particular production, four women sitting on stools with plastic folders in their hands) the collection of interviews with women of all ages from around the world talking about their vaginas has become possibly the most famous text about the human body to be performed on stage.

I believe this is the third time this piece has been staged in Malta and I was glad to find that it has lost none of its relevance, nor its power to challenge my own views about womanhood.

Ensler regularly adds new monologues to the piece to keep it topical and each production is made up of a selection of monologues, rather than the full set.

This particular production was also marked by occasional local references, such as the Tagħna Lkoll orgasm and various ways of referring to the vagina in Maltese that gave the piece a welcome local touch.

I found director Nanette Brimmer’s choice of monologues to be spot on, with the right balance of humour, tragedy, information and sensuality.

Brimmer is also to be commended for skilfully matching her choice of monologues with the right choice of cast.

Paula Fleri Soler’s deadpan humour was very effective in her rant titled ‘My Angry Vagina’, where she rallies against the way tampon manufacturers, gynae equipment designers and the like have failed to come up with products that work with, rather than against, the very nature of a woman’s vagina.

The director is also to be commended for skilfully matching her choice of monologues with the right choice of cast

Nicky Schembri vividly brought the touching story of an elderly woman’s inability to have a fulfilling sex life due to her excessive vaginal discharge to life in ‘The Flood’, a piece that requires a Jewish, Queen’s accent.

Julia Calvert’s range was stretched to the max with her moving portrayal of a Bosnian girl’s harrowing ordeal at the hands of her captors.

Faye Paris skilfully played the controversial piece ‘The Little Coochi Snorcher That Could’ with a frank innocence that almost shocked me with its ability to transform a tale of underage sex into a liberating experience.

Equally powerful was Steffi Thake’s monologue titled ‘My Short Skirt’. Coming on stage unannounced half way through the evening dressed in, well yes, a bright red, sexy, short skirt, she drove home a powerful point that a woman’s right to wear a short skirt does not constitute a legal reason to rape her.

This was made all the more poignant by segueing the monologue with one entitled ‘Under the Burqa’, dealing with the plight of women under the Taliban.

Translated into over 48 languages and performed in over 140 countries, The Vagina Monologues has become a worldwide phenomenon that has inspired Ensler and others to create V-Day, a global non-profit movement that has raised over a million dollars for groups working to end violence against women and girls throughout the world.

The piece may have its detractors and the debate continues to rage about whether or not it is a piece about being a woman or about having a vagina but ultimately, it remains a strong statement in favour of human freedom; freedom from ignorance, slavery and fear.