Re Arifa Akbar’s article (We go to the theatre to feel something – and people do. Trigger warnings don’t stop that, 22 February), in 2016, I attended a performance of Shakespeare’s Richard III in London. Ralph Fiennes was in the titular role, and Vanessa Redgrave played Queen Margaret. I was thrilled to see them both in person on stage.
I was not unfamiliar with the play, having read it and seen it performed multiple times, and this production’s opening scene with the exhumation of the king’s skeleton and twisted spine, a nod to the recent discovery of the remains in a Leicestershire car park, set the tone of brutality and industrial sparseness appropriate to this contemporary staging of the play.
What I wasn’t prepared for was Richard’s brutal rape, centre downstage, of the widowed Queen Elizabeth, during their heated exchange in act four, scene four. As a rape survivor, I couldn’t bear to watch or listen; it was brutal, revolting and shocking, and it spoiled the entire production for me. It was unbearable.
I’m sure Mr Fiennes believes his objection to trigger warnings for theatre performances is justified; he’s an outstanding actor whose work is powerful. Perhaps my response to his performance was exactly what he intended; if so, he made his point. If augmenting the stage direction of “He kisses her” (following line 361) to a realistically simulated rape is what theatre seems to require nowadays, I understand: the theatre is no longer a safe place for me, and my sensibilities, to suspend my disbelief. Unless of course I have fair warning, in advance, and take my chances.
Name and address supplied
• I had a partner with significant trauma. We used trigger warnings to filter entertainment so that they would feel comfortable and we would not accidentally retrigger the trauma and cause a significant deterioration in their ongoing recovery. To take that away from them would be to merely continue to traumatise someone who does not deserve it.
I do not go to the theatre to be lectured, needled, or otherwise upset. I do not pay hard-earned money to be offended; I go to be entertained. I often ensure that I read reviews, Wikipedia pages, and trigger warnings before I go to anything.
Thanks to the list of plays and playwrights provided in some of these articles and comments, I am now able to avoid those listed. I am very grateful to them for that service.
Name and address supplied
