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Controversial Egg?

Thu, 30 Apr 2009, 10:07 am
class act theatre20 posts in thread
Class Act is in the middle of rehearsing "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg" by Peter Nichols. This play was listed as being one of the recommended texts for WA high schools. So far, they are staying away in droves. Is this 1967 play too controversial for our modern audiences?? We have already had a school ring up and say they were disgusted by our flyer - which quoted a review from The Observer which was on the BACK of the actual text along with a review written in 1993 (we put both on the flyer thinking they were "safe" as they were published with the text!) The offending review was by Ronald Bryden in 1967 - " This remarkable play is about a nightmare all women must have dreamed at some time, and most men: living with a child born so hopelessly crippled as to be, as the father says in it brutally, "a human parsnip". For all that, it has to be described as a comedy, one of the funniest and most touching I've ever seen." I must admit that during rehearsals, I am cringing at some of the 1967 references - but because the play is not pc enough for today's standards - should we not perform it?? Should we be changing some of the offensive references? What do you think? Angelique Malcolm

I didn't say I hadn't read

Sun, 3 May 2009, 04:39 pm
I didn't say I hadn't read the play. In fact I have but some years ago so am currently not that familiar with it. I still consider that to reject a play like this simply because it deals with subject matter that has the potential to offend is small mindedness. It reeks of the city fathers of Tunbridge wells refusing Steady Eddie the right to perform in their theatre because his humour dealt with disabled people. And that really happened. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

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