Actors and a theatre company have filed an application in the Constitutional Appeals' Court claiming discrimination in the banning of the play Stitching.

The Constitutional Appeals' Court is currently hearing an appeal from a previous judgement which upheld a decision by the Classification Board to ban the play.

Adrian Buckle, Christopher Gatt, Pia Zammit, Mikhail Basmadjian and Unifaun Theatre Productions Ltd filed their application against Classification Board chairman Theresa Friggieri, chairman the Prime Minister, the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General.

In their application, they claimed that, only recently, two plays - Immaculate by Oliver Lansley and Osama the Hero by Dennis Kelly - were put up in Malta for an 18+ audience.

Certificates were issued by the Classification Board allowing the plays to be produced and no orders or directives were issued for any part of the script to be left out. This showed inconsistency and discrimination by the board.

These plays, they said, were similar to Stitching, including in the language used. Osama the Hero also dealt with paedophilia and terroristic violence and included very graphical scenes.

The actors made it clear they were not against the production of Immaculate and Osama the Hero but the fact that Stitching was not allowed was unacceptable in a democratic society.