A theatre issued a trigger warning for a Charles Dickens play because it featured Victorian-era insults.
Audience members at the Bromley Little Theatre, south-east London, were warned that the adaptation of the author’s 1839 novel Nicholas Nickleby contained “Dickensian slurs”.
The guidance, listed on the theatre’s website as a “content warning”, also said the play featured “Abuse (physical, emotional, child), violence, suicide, murder, sexual assault, kidnap, mental illness, [and] sexism.”
The production earlier this month told the story of Nicholas, an impoverished young man, who supports his mother and sister when his father dies after losing all his money in an ill-judged investment. The book features several Victorian-era slurs including the words “hussy”, “ass” and “queer”.
Sir John Hayes, a Tory MP, told The Sun: “Dickens is full of, by definition, Victorian slurs, because it was reflecting the language of working people at the time. Dickens’s novels were an exploration of the human condition in all of its glory and all of its horrors. It was full of wit and social commentary.
“To produce a vanilla-flavoured version of Charles Dickens’s work is to contradict the meaning of the writer’s work.”
Sir John added: “Anyone who sees this is fully entitled to ask what the Dickens is going on.”
The theatre also previously warned prospective audiences that a performance of Jane Eyre contained themes including “arson”, in an apparent reference to the moment when Bertha Mason sets fire to Thornfield Hall in the story.
It comes after the English National Opera warned theatregoers that a production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance featured “alcohol misuse”.
Audiences at the London Coliseum were greeted with a sign saying: “Please note this production contains references to alcohol misuse and mild violence” at a show last week.
Music critic, Richard Bratby, claimed on social media that the warning was about someone pouring a glass of sherry.
The row follows a wider debate around inclusive language during the Christmas period.
‘Can’t say Christmas’
Earlier this month, Newcastle University was criticised after it instructed staff to replace the term “Christmas break” in favour of “winter break” as part of new inclusivity measures.
The change was suggested as part of a 20-page guide aimed at making the calendar more “inclusive and sensitive” to diverse beliefs, according to The Sun.
Meanwhile, a Christmas market on London’s South Bank was renamed “Winter Come Together” this year, according to GB News. One trader also told the broadcaster that they could not “say Christmas”.
Mistletoe traders have also reported a fall in sales, claiming that office workers are abandoning the tradition of kissing under the foliage at Christmas parties because they fear being accused of abuse.
Nick “Mr Mistletoe” Champion, a renowned auctioneer of the plant, told the Daily Mail: “We used to have four auctions but mistletoe sales peaked in the early 90s.
“Young people aren’t interested in kissing under the mistletoe any more and the older generation who used to cut it down and bundle it up are dying off and not being replaced.”
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