Talking point

April 6, 2009 by thenextstage

Offending the audience is part of the function of theatre…

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph

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Posted in talking point | 5 Comments

on April 6, 2009 at 4:31 am | Reply Ian Mackenzie

I hopo so. Not all theatre is avant-garde, but the theatre that I usually respond to is. And when you’re challenging the status quo, you’re bound to offend people.
on April 6, 2009 at 7:01 am | Reply Travis Bedard

For values of offend that start at ‘irritate to thought’. Not all theatre need mortally offend. But irritate to thought.
on April 6, 2009 at 7:45 am | Reply Scott Walters

Nonsense. Conventional nonsense.

I have been writing an extended post on this topic for my blog, which I hope to post soon.
on April 6, 2009 at 10:15 am | Reply thenextstage

Hm. Interesting. I like this question. While I’m not sure about the veracity of the statement, I am quite convinced that a function of theatre is certainly not to not offend.

I find some offensive plays to be the ones that stick with me the longest, and work their way into my psyche more aggressively. For example, when I first finished Scorched I threw the script across my living room. Now it’s near the top of my list of works that I’m dying to produce.
on May 11, 2009 at 12:53 pm | Reply Further to offending the Audience | Cambiare Productions

[...] talked a little bit of late around the idea of offending the audience. Whether it has a place, whether [...]