Wokies Warned to Beware of Shakespeare

A portrait of William Shakespeare. The Arts and Humanities Research Council claims 'disproportionate representation' by William Shakespeare has propagated 'white, able-bodied, heterosexual, cisgender male narratives'

Shakespeare's works have wokest warnings EVER slapped on them - telling terrified Gen Z to beware

A university has slapped Shakespeare's works with hundreds of trigger warnings, warning nervous Gen Z students to watch out.

The University of the West of England (UWE), in Bristol, hit out at 220 of the Bard's works and famous TV and stage adaptations of them in guidance for drama students. 

For one of the writer's final plays, The Tempest, intrepid viewers are warned that there may be 'extreme weather', 'depiction of magic' and - in one particular 2016 stage version - 'popping of balloons' involved. 

Warnings on The Winter's Tale - remembered for its famous line, 'Exit, pursued by a bear', referencing death by bear claws for one of the characters - caution of 'references to wild animal attack'. 

Terrifying scenes of 'puppetry' and 'pregnancy' are among the long list of things to watch out for in this particular play too.

The University of the West of England (pictured) in Bristol hit out at 220 of the bard's works and famous TV and stage adaptations of them in guidance for drama students. Beware of 'family trauma' and 'psychological distress' in Macbeth.

Beware of 'family trauma' and 'psychological distress' in Macbeth, UWE warns.

For Much Ado About Nothing, a comedy centering on a tangled quartet of lovers, students are advised it contains 'treatment of women' - inevitable, perhaps, for a play featuring female characters. 

Romeo and Juliet - famous for its tale of star-crossed lovers who both die at the end - contains, to not many people's surprise, 'death', 'suicide', 'violence', 'knives' and 'blood'. 

William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. 

UWE said: 'Content warnings were previously requested by students with sensory processing issues and experiences of trauma.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14370731/Shakespeares-works-wokest-warnings-slapped-telling-terrified-Gen-Z-beware-dirt-puppetry.html

Author Lionel Shriver told the Sunday Telegraph that Shakespeare would outlast 'this dogmatic mangling', adding: 'His plays will continue to be enjoyed long after today's 'intersectional' performances have foreshortened into a freakish comical footnote in theatrical history.'

Comedian Andrew Doyle said: 'There's a very good reason why Shakespeare is performed frequently.

'Shakespeare was by far a superior playwright. Yet again, ideologues are reducing great art to mere mechanisms for the promotion of an ideology.'

Cisgender is used to describe a person whose gender identity corresponds with their sex at birth.

Dr José Pérez Díez of the British Shakespeare Society said: ‘We believe Shakespeare’s international cultural impact is one of the strongest cultural assets of the English language and its heritage.

The English playwright, poet, and actor William Shakespeare is widely believed to have been the greatest dramatist of all time

The family home: Shakespeare's birthplace on Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire

Kronborg Castle, the world-famous setting for Shakespeare's Hamlet [I visited it once-AA]

 The castle is located in Helsingor, Denmark, and has 'pointy turrets and cannons galore' 

Helsingor is a 'fine example of a Danish medieval town, with cobbled streets, a beautiful Carmelite Priory, and a great Maritime Museum'

Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen

Globe Theatre issues trigger warning to Shakespeare audiences that Antony and Cleopatra contains 'depictions of suicide, violence and war' (after warning that Julius Caesar includes knives and Midsummer Night's Dream has 'sexual references')

Theatre-goers are also warned that the play is discriminatory to black women as it features misogynoir references' .

A Globe production of Julius Caesar, which depicts the fatal stabbing of the Roman dictator, warned its audiences that the play would include 'depictions of war, self-harm and suicide, stage blood and weapons including knives.'

Similarly a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream warned that the fairy-tale-like play contained 'language of violence, sexual references, misogyny and racism'.

The Globe Theatre 

Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 movie of Cleopatra

Directors, actors and producers in the field slammed the 'ludicrous' warnings.

Gregory Doran, who became artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2012 has blasted trigger warnings for audiences

Sir Ian McKellen also ridiculed and blasted trigger warnings.

Ralph Fiennes, starring in Shakespeare's Macbeth, called for the end to trigger warnings 

Bosses of the London's world-renowned Globe theatre were slammed after they provided warnings ahead of Shakespeare's centuries-old play Julies Caesar

Actor Christopher Biggins blasted the theatre: 'Do we have to have signs for everything under the sun. It's a joke. What they are trying to do is insulting to the mentality of theatre-goers.'