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THEATRE & CENSORSHIP. “What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.“ — Salman Rushdie. Censorship. What is the Theatre Act 1968? Who are the players? What were the consequences? Where can we find parallels in today’s society?. Edward Bond.
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THEATRE & CENSORSHIP “What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.“ —Salman Rushdie
Censorship What is the Theatre Act 1968? Who are the players? What were the consequences? Where can we find parallels in today’s society?
The Lord Chamberlain’s Objections to Saved • Scene 6 and scene 9: Why might the alterations compromise the point of his play?
Consequences of Saved being performed • The show went on under the condition as a ‘private performance’ for members of the ‘English Stage Society’, but members of the public ‘gained’ access. • Laurence Olivier presented a speech at the law courts in support of the Gaskill and the theatre. In response to Olivier’s support the Magistrate said ‘that was absolutely fascinating but totally irrelevant’. • Although The Royal Court lost the case, in the long-run, Saved created waves that led to the abolition of stage censorship in 1968.
Romans in Britain: Howard BrentonCensorship and Society • October 1980, new play, the National Theatre. • Naked men, actors, pretending to have sex while also pretending to be a Celt and a Roman in a play • News of its graphic violence and simulated male rape soon had Mary Whitehouse up in arms • (again) • Mrs Whitehouse brought a private prosecution against the play's director for having ‘procured' an act of gross indecency. Although discontinued, (the case) did establish that an offence under the Sexual Offences Act could be committed in the Theatre.
Whitehouse was pursuing a puritanical interpretation of Christian values. However …
Brenton: Themes will resonate, with parallels to be drawn between America and Rome: "In our country, so sickeningly supine to American influence, an imperial superpower barging around the world is as dangerous and deadly as Caesar's legions”. Independent on Sunday 15/1/2006
Behzti and Behud: • ‘black comedy which offers insight into the British Asian Experience’ – but the controversy was far from comic. • Contexts, Consequences and Controversy
Ironic turn? The Theatre decides to close the play • Stuart Rogers Theatre Executive of the Birmingham Rep: • “We are determined NOT to go down the road of censorship, But when one stands in the foyer with 800 women and children and sees stones being thrown and police officers injured, then security and safety issues come to the fore.”
A curious connection between those who were protesting against the play and those who supported it. • Helen Freshwater in Theatre Censorship in Britain (London: Palgrave, 2009) points out: • ...this debate was not characterised by a simple division between those people who thought that the silencing of the play was unfortunate, though for the best, and those who were appalled by its closure. Instead, those in the pro- and anti- censorship camps frequently used the same arguments. The right to freedom of expression and the right not to have ones religion insulted were both presented as absolute non-negotiable and inalienable rights’ (p.144)
questions • What is the role of the playwright in society? • What should a playwright write about? • Should a playwright self-censor their own writing? • What are the consequences of writing a play for a playwright and his/her targeted audience?
Questions • How much control does a writer have over the way their work is interpreted once it is onstage? • Once it is in the hands of actors, directors, how much of the script remains of the play? • Once the play is staged is the playwright fully responsible for how it is received by the audience?
