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Based on a true-life love story from World War II, this new musical by Philip Glassborow takes us back to the wild days of Valletta's most famous street. The beautiful singer Christina Ratcliffe arrives at The Morning Star in "The Gut" to entertain the troops. Then she meets the dashing RAF air-ace, Flying Officer Adrian Warburton. And the rest is history! Staying on in Malta throughout the war, Christina works in the Lascaris War Rooms. She's awarded the British Empire Medal for her services to the RAF, and becomes known as ‘Christina of George Cross Island’. The play stars Polly March, Larissa Bonaci and Geoff Thomas, and features wartime standards like “I’ll Be Seeing You” alongside original songs such as “Welcome to Valletta”. It's a feast for theatre and music lovers, enthusiasts of Maltese history, and anyone looking for a good show!
SOME PRESS REVIEWS OF THE PREMIERE
“A highly enjoyable show which traces the human elements of Malta’s wartime past, while showcasing quality talent and a story which is both intriguing and endearing. Definitely one to watch.” - Andre Delicata, Times of Malta
“It’s nostalgic, it’s about love, and beautiful people, but it’s also about strength and courage and serves as a window on life in Malta during the war… The beautiful Christina Ratcliffe… met Adrian Warburton, at 26 the most decorated pilot in the RAF, eccentric, crazy, gallant beyond belief. How could she not fall in love with him? With their personalities, zest and determination, they became living symbols of the island’s unconquerable spirit.” - Veronica Stivala, Times of Malta
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Ladies of Lascaris by Paul McDonald
The world premiere of the musical stage play Star of Strait Street took place in Valletta on 4 April 2017. It celebrates the life of Christina Ratcliffe, an English singer and dancer who became an aircraft plotter in Malta in the Second World War. She worked in the underground Royal Air Force operational headquarters beneath Lascaris Bastion in Valletta.
This is Christina’s story and that of other British and Maltese girls employed by the RAF. It is also the story of Philip Glassborow’s hit musical Star of Strait Street.
In June 1942 fifty-three female civilian plotters worked at Lascaris, some as young as fourteen. Six including Christina were decorated for gallantry. What they did, how they lived and how some of them died is told in part using their own words. Their descriptions of life beneath the most intensive, prolonged bombing the world has ever seen are extraordinary and rare: female perspectives at the heart of military conflict.
Described in the Times of Malta in 1942 as ‘Christina of George Cross Island’, she herself said Malta ‘is carved on my heart’. For years after the Second World War in small corner cafés and bars that are such a feature of Malta’s towns and villages, people talked about a remarkable RAF photo-recce pilot called Warby and his stunning companion Christina, a true heroine, they said. Yet she died alone and unnoticed and was buried in a shared grave.
Now the memory of what she and the LADIES OF LASCARIS achieved has been brought back to life for a well-deserved encore in writing and on the stage.