Playbill: What do an ancient Greek playwright, Roaring Twenties film icon Mae West, and Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw all have in common? They all wrote plays that came with jail fines. With Banned Books Week raising awareness about the censorship of literature, a look back through theatre history reveals some of its own intriguing stories of plays and musicals that pushed boundaries.
10 comments:
I love seeing how certain shows that are now tremendously popular or at least well-known have such a complicated history. Imagine if banning plays like Hair, Spring Awakening, or Lysistrata, which are talked about fairly frequently and celebrated today, had prevented them from entering the public consciousness. My high school has put on a production of The Children’s Hour in the past, and I myself worked on a one act cut of The Captive, which is actually one of my favorite plays. The play is about a lesbian, but she is the only gay character and the topic is explored rather subtly, avoiding a lot of key words and ultimately ending in tragedy. It’s crazy to me to think that a play that deals with the topic of lesbianism in such a nuanced and non-overt way could be banned and charged with obscenity. It just goes to show how certain kinds of theatre and speech in general are constantly being silenced, even when there is definitely an audience for them.
The start of this list actually made me laugh out loud because Lysistrata was the first high school play I ever did. It was a modern twist on the Aristophanes original, and to think that at one point in time it was met with such scrutiny is hilarious. I had no idea that the mailing of obscene literature was not allowed in the late 19th century at all, and the tale of Lysistrata being based around women withholding sex makes it fair game for sure. Another two shows on this list that stand out to me specifically are Hair and Spring Awakening. Neither of these actually surprised me but I think it is worth mentioning that 1. We did Hair here at CMU my freshman year and 2. My high school was floating around the idea of doing Spring Awakening my senior year (and was ultimately shot down). Suffice to say, these controversial shows have followed me most of my theater career and I would love to do the others on this list some day.
This topic of censorship is very intriguing to me - it is something that has existed since art has existed and has been a constant plague to artists attempting to share stories exploring the true human existence. While I know that censorship has been an issue for ages, I hadn’t looked into many specific examples within theatre. Hearing about these specific instances is eye opening, especially knowing that these are only 11 examples that actually made it to the stage at some point. It makes me wonder about all the instances of censorship that occurred to those who didn’t have the power to get the story out there or even get their stories on the stage at all.
It is interesting how some of the theatrical plays would influence the law and how people would set up laws according to some thing happened in performances. It is also interesting in how some of the theatrical plays reveal a societal truth within a country and it is common thing across different countries. Even though I have not personally interacted with a play that used to be prohibited but I know some of the productions that I have involved will probably be prohibited and canceled if it happened in the past. It is really interesting in how most of the productions that was being canceled are related to gender and limitations of what action a group of people can do due to their sexualities. In modern days, there are relatively hate towards sexuality and gender and leading to more productions related to this topic is able to be shown on stages.
I like how the article starts by mentioning Banned Books Week. I never thought about how that may apply to theater. All of the works, with the exception of The Other Shore and Salome, were banned with something having to do with sexuality. What I find very interesting is how recently some of the pieces were removed. Most of them were banned in the early 20th century, but Hair was disputed in the 70s. Of course, today theater is much more open to those types of themes, which is something that I think we can all be glad for. As for Salome, which was banned because of "depicting biblical characters": I think that religion is a topic that still isn't touched on too much, but I admit I'm not the most knowledgeable on the subject. Lastly, I appreciate that the article included something from modern times, that still is a problem today. The Other Shore stuck out because it was not only the most recent but touched on the CCP's censorship.
I find it quite telling how most of these plays center around female sexuality and sexual liberation and or autonomy. To me it represents how society polices women. Lysistrata tells the story of a group of women that go on an anti-war strike by withholding sex from their husbands. It frankly speaks to a long standing problem of women’s judgment and or ability to decide what is best constantly being doubted. I will also say, I find this article a bit funny. While it goes into a bit of detail onto why and how each play was banned, it doesn’t do so to the same extent for the last play. The last play is also coincidentally the only one that is written by a no-white author. Which honestly makes me think that it is a last minute add-in for “diversity win points”. Overall, the article felt to brief and vague and sometimes bordering lazy. I think it serves as a nice jumping off point but not much else.
In my opinion, no work of art, including literature and theater, should be banned. People have the right to free speech and to create art in the manner they desire to do so. I love learning about works that were once banned or considered taboo not just because I love the stories but also because I love the history that is revealed by their having been banned. This summer, I had the privilege of seeing the play Indecent. This show is a homosexual, Jewish love story about another play that was at one time banned, The God of Vengeance. The God of Vengeance was shut down and the cast and crew was arrested when it transferred to broadway in the 1920s. This little bit of history is a great insight into the overall history of that time period and tells so much more about jewish history than the original play ever could.
I find it really interesting that I was able to recognize many of these productions and I was surprised that I only really knew the history of Spring Awakening. It just makes me think about how for a lot of these their attempt to get rid of the production, censor, and or hide it from the public really just added to the history and in some cases made it even more well known. The only reason I even know the history of Spring Awakening is because my high school produced it while I was there not once but twice then I think years prior as well. So it’s just interesting to see how times have changed when it comes to performances with elements of sexuality or sensitive topics but also how in many cases it hasn’t and there are still probably many places that would never give some of these shows the time of day.
Banning controversial or slightly risqué material is nothing new, but it reasons for doing so and the medium it affects has changed drastically over time. For many of these plays, they were banned at a time when any discussion of sexuality was taboo, even amongst adults. Now, things have been shifting towards banning things in the name of “saving the children”. As a result, there has been more of an emphasis on policing children’s books and television. I am glad there is little emphasis now on controlling what fully grown adults do or watch in their own free time, but the attitude of banning is still prevalent and, in my opinion, very damaging. There should be ratings for things, even content warnings, but banning books from libraries is never a good look. I hope this reminder of great shows that have been previously banned reminds people to reflect on what we lose when we are too afraid to allow controversial work to thrive.
I love this article. I like that it was published in conjunction with banned books week. Censorship laws have always been silly to me when it comes to the theatre. I believe that everyone should be able to perform what they choose (as long as it is being performed in a safe manor for the actors and crew) and that it is up to the audience about wether they wish to consume the content, not the government. Historically all governments have influence on the media and art its citizens consume. There is power in art. Art can shift a nation’s mindset as it is a close tie and representation to humanity. Art can be a wake up call to what is wrong in society and that puts fear into the hearts of those who wield power based on intimidation and fear. I also hate how much of an impact religion has on a country where separation of church and state is supposed to be a thing as many censorship laws are based off religious beliefs in the US.
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