Britons in Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford upon Avon are fuming at a recent rise in trigger warnings on the bard’s plays, GB News has found.
Shakespeare’s Globe in London has recently issued “content guidance” for its productions of Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar.
Ahead of Antony and Cleopatra, the theatre warned audiences of “depictions of suicide, scenes of violence and war and misogynoir references”.
Misogynoir is a relatively new term for describing discrimination against women and black people.
Residents in Stratford upon Avon have been left fuming with the trigger warnings
GB News
Last month, both actor, Ralph Fiennes, and Culture Secretary, Lucy Frazer, joined the previously outspoken, Ian McKellen, in calling for the end of the increasing number trigger warnings on the bard’s plays.
Fiennes says people should be “shocked” and “disturbed” by the theatre, and in Shakespeare’s birthplace of Stratford, the recent trend has not been well received.
One lady told GB News: “It’s absolutely ridiculous, you just have to understand how the world was when those plays were written.
“There was no offence meant and you can’t re-write history; history is there for us all to learn from.
“I think it’s the woke brigade spoiling everything.”
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Fiennes says people should be “shocked” and “disturbed” by the theatre
GB News
Another man said: “I think that’s an overreaction; no need for it at all.”
One resident, however, was in favour of the move. He told GB News: “I think it’s a good idea because things have changed, standards have improved, values have improved - so yeah, let’s not offend.”
William Shakespeare’s influence on the English language is unparalleled with 1,700 of the words he invented still part of our everyday speak.
This week has been the annual celebration of Shakespeare Week, with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust marking a decade of giving primary school aged children opportunities to enrich themselves in the work of the man from Stratford.
William Shakespeare’s influence on the English language is unparalleled with 1,700 of the words he invented still part of our everyday speak
GB News
Charlotte Scott, Director of Knowledge at the trust, says the programme has created a “positive experience” for young people.
She told GB News: “The last 10 years have been spectacular as we’ve started to grow a programme that was about creating a positive experience for children to access to Shakespeare, where language isn’t a barrier, and where it’s fun and where it’s playful.
“Over the last 10 years, that programme has grown expansively across the country.”
Speaking about the recently trigger warned adult themes within Shakespeare’s plays she added: “I think it’s important to allow children to explore some of those adult themes in ways that they are informed and enabled, so that they can still encounter ideas that are related to the adult world in safe spaces, and in ways which are inclusive and imaginative.”
