A judge has decided not to watch a controversial play before ruling on whether it should have been banned because he does not want to question the classification board's discretion.

Mr Justice Joseph Zammit Mc-keon gave his decision after Unifaun Theatre Productions Limited asked him to view a performance of the play Stitching by Anthony Neilson.

The production company initiated court proceedings against the classification board after the play was banned, arguing that board members had only read the script and not seen it performed.

Lawyer Ian Refalo, Michael Zammit Maempel and Sarah Grima asked Mr Justice Zammit Mckeon to hold a private viewing of the play in order to better appreciate its impact.

However, this was contested by a lawyer from the Attorney General's Office, Peter Grech, who said that in this way the judge would become a classifier of drama.

He argued that the court's decision should be taken on facts and if it were shown in court it would therefore be shown in public.

He added that the script already offended public morals and there was no guarantee that the version presented in court would be the same as the one shown to the public.

Mr Justice Zammit Mckeon said the classification board took its decision on the script of the play and did not choose to see it. The court did not see why it had to watch the play and question the discretion of the board on which it based its decision.

The case has been postponed to December 15, when the production company will make their final submissions.