Anthony Neilson’s stitching and the high moral ground : a case study from Malta

Abstract

In January 2009, the play Stitching by the Scottish author Anthony Neilson was banned in Malta by the Classification Board for Film and Stage. Initially, no reasons were provided for the ban. It was only after the company insisted on knowing the motives and the issue captured the attention of the press that these were finally supplied, eleven days after the ban was imposed. One of the board members found the play ‘degrading of the human person’ and felt that it ‘grievously offends all that has been considered, and is still considered, “sacred” in human dignity, both socially and historically’. This decision sparked off a ferocious national debate on the validity of having a board that was legally allowed to exercise censorship. The determined stance taken by the theatre company was considered shocking by some and cheered on by others. The company instituted legal proceedings against the ban, but lost the case as well as the appeal before the Maltese Constitutional Court, which maintained that the banning of the play was lawful and in accordance with Maltese and European law. Its ruling con- rmed the censors’ objections; it found that the script included obscene words, words offending religious feelings, decadent, depraved and disgusting perversions of a sexual, sadomasochistic, and at times also paedophile nature, with a gratuitous reference to the victims of Auschwitz that went beyond public decency and lowered human dignity. [Excerpt]