Trigger Warnings

 It is a play renowned for its extreme violence, with scenes featuring execution, rape and mutilation. Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus even culminates with its eponymous Roman general feeding Tamora, the queen of the Goths, her sons "baked in a pie" before slaughtering her.

Titus Andronicus - Tamora
Samuel Woodforde (1763-1817)
Photo Credit: Royal Shakespeare Company Collection [CC BY-NC-ND]
   

But the play - and others like it - should not carry trigger warnings, according to the former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, who has declared that he "hates them".

Speaking with students in a Q&A ... Gregory Doran said anxious audience members should simply avoid plays so that they would not be upset by distressing content, the Stage reported.

"How do you do [content warnings] for Titus Andronicus?" Doran said. "You just don't come. Don't come if you are worried. If you are anxious - stay away"... 

Content warnings in the industry have become a point of contention in the past few years, and used as ammunition against "wokery" and "snowflake" mentality...

In 2021 the Globe theatre made headlines when it said it would provide warnings about "upsetting" themes - suicide and drug use - in Romeo and Juliet...

The actor Christopher Biggins responded: "Do we we have to have signs for everything under the sun? What they are trying to do is insulting to the mentality of theatregoers." ..

The actor Ralph Fiennes recently suggested modern audiences had "gone too soft". "I don't think you should be prepared for these things. Shakespeare's plays are full of murder and full of horror, and as a young student and lover of the theatre I never experienced trigger warnings like, oh by the way, in King Lear, Gloucester's going to have his eyes pulled out." 

Sir Ian McKellan also criticised signs at his own play, Frank and Percy, at  The Other Palace theatre in London, which warned of strong language, sexual references and discussions of bereavement and cancer. "I think it's quite ludicrous, myself," the 84-year-old said. "I quite like to be surprised by loud noises and outrageous behaviour on stage."

(Nadia Khomami, The Guardian, 2024)

If you are anxious or worried about plays in the theatre or films, or books or television programmes do your research beforehand and find out what they are about. Then act accordingly. If you come across something on the internet that upsets you don't go on that particular item again. You are an adult. Take responsibility for your actions.