DAVID THOMPSON: May Contain Drama.
Or, Shakespeare For The Tremulous And Neurotic:
Drama students are being warned of suicide in Romeo and Juliet after a university put more than 200 trigger warnings on works of Shakespeare. The University of the West of England (UWE) has issued warnings for “blood” and “psychological trauma” in Macbeth, as well as “storms” and “extreme weather” in The Tempest.
One theatre show of the shipwreck play was highlighted for containing the “popping of balloons.”
Readers will doubtless recall the Chichester Festival Theatre warning patrons that its production of The Sound of Music, one of the most famous and widely-seen musicals in the world, would contain references to Nazis. Which, for some, would apparently come as a surprise.
We’ve long speculated that there’s no way that Blazing Saddles could be made today. But I had no idea that Hogan’s Heroes reruns might cause sensitive viewers in the 21st century – or at least those who wish to slap warning labels on absolutely everything – to dive for the fainting couch.