Quite reasonably, vampire fans expect a theatre production to have some bite, with plenty of gore and violence. It is horror, after all. But one leading theatre has put a trigger warning on a Dracula show – because it features blood. Bosses at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith, west London, fear audiences may be disturbed – apparently not realising that being disturbed is precisely what the customers are paying for.
We all know why this warning is needed - it's to avoid snowflakes rushing to the nearest ambulance chasing lawyer and suing the theatre.
Those dusting off their capes to see theatre’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula will be warned: ‘Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s Dracula – based on the novel by Bram Stoker – contains themes of gender-based violence, including visual allusions to sexual assault; death, including of children; blood; abduction; depictions of grief and distress following trauma; the use of weapons; and reference to hanging.’ The theatre adds that the production includes ‘language and scenes that may impact some audience members’. The details of a mental health charity are being handed out in case any audience members are particularly unnerved by the show.
This is merely the showbiz equivalent of the warning 'Contains nuts' on the packet of peanuts they hand out on a flight - if they still do that at all, I haven't been on a flight for years. ButI do have streaming services and trigger warnings are on everything these days, and for the most bizarre reason: 'animals hunting' was one the other day. On a nature documentary!
The trigger warning on Dracula follows one on Hamlet at the National Theatre in London, where audiences were alerted to ‘coercive behaviour’ in the play. Shakespearean actor Brian Blessed, 88, hit out at theatre bosses as ‘ignorant pigs’, saying: ‘It’s f***ing Shakespeare... the greatest writer on the planet.’
And we remember what he wrote about lawyers, don't we Brian?