A controversial play which discusses abortion has been banned from being staged locally, but the producer is intent on getting the decision overturned claiming it is unconstitutional.

Adrian Buckle, director of Unifaun Productions, said that after reviewing the script, the Maltese classifiers "banned and disallowed" the play. He wants to know the official reasons behind the decision.

He said the play, entitled Stitching, is about a relationship gone bad because of an unwanted pregnancy, and among other issues it discusses abortion. Mr Buckle said he could not go into further detail without giving away the plot and he was determined to put it on anyway.

Although there are some shocking instances in the play, Mr Buckle commented that some of his past productions, like Blasted and Paul, were more hard-hitting.

He is currently discussing the matter with his lawyers because he feels that the decision to ban the production goes against the EU's laws on freedom of expression.

The controversial play, by the Scottish writer Anthony Neilson, features characters assaulting each other with a dildo, and a woman mutilating and stitching up her private parts. When it was staged at the Edinburgh festival in 2002, some people walked out in disgust, according to reports in The Guardian newspaper.