To warn or not to warn? Royal Shakespeare Company provides trigger warning to Hamlet audiences that play contains ‘scenes of an adult nature’ including death and grief
To warn or not to warn, that is the question…
And the Royal Shakespeare Company has decided that it is nobler for those watching the latest production of Hamlet not to be exposed to the slings and arrows of mind-bending content, but to sound alert to the sea of triggers and prepare them by forewarning them.
Hamlet is one of the Bard’s best-known works, but RSC producers have decided that a new touring show requires a warning that it contains ‘adult scenes, including depictions of death and grief’.
While the tragedy depicts the turmoil of a young prince trying to come to terms with the murder of his father and includes the deaths of many characters, critics said it needed no more warning than ‘a newspaper’.
Sociology professor Frank Furedi, author of The War Against the Past, was among those who believed that something was rotten in the waking state.
He said the content recommendation ‘shows that a trigger warning plays an obligatory ritual role in the cultural world’.
The warning about grief and death is a roundabout way of saying that the drama itself should come with a health warning.’
Jeremy Black, author of England In The Age of Shakespeare, said: ‘Hamlet – with its themes of deadly betrayal and a cast that includes a ghost, an adulterous queen, a murderous brother, a skull and the like – captures life’s fundamental questions, including guilt and responsibility, and needs no more of a warning than a newspaper.’
Rupert Goold’s Hamlet goes on tour with warnings of ‘death’ and ‘grief’ after opening in Stratford-upon-Avon (pictured) in 2025
Royal Shakespeare company says advice notes could be ‘invaluable resource’ for some audiences
The new production reimagines the drama on a sinking ship and stars Ralph Davis, who recently starred opposite Aimee Lou Wood in BBC drama Film Club.
The warning also highlights the use of ‘loud music and sounds, including gunshots, flashing lights and strobes, fog, stage blood, smoking (cigarettes) and violence’.
The RSC said last night: ‘We want everyone to use our advice notes to make their experience as positive as possible. While the majority of viewers don’t need them, they are an invaluable resource for those who do.
‘We never assume that our audience is knowledgeable about a particular play or production.’
