A London theatre has slapped a series of bizarre trigger warning on a new show – telling ticket-holders to beware that ‘real soil’ and ‘balloon animals’ are used in the production.
Loop, which is currently on at Theatre 503 and tells the story of a girl who works in a party shop in Peckham and becomes obsessed with a man she meets, shares with the audience that haze – such as dust, smoke, or salt, are suspended in the air and reduce visibility – is also present throughout the performance.
Viewers have been left surprised at the warnings, which are alongside more clear-cut ones for ‘scenes of a sexual nature and depictions of violence’ during the show which is described as a ‘surreal one-woman fever dream’ and runs for 65 minutes.
Loop, which is a one-woman psychological horror for which tickets cost £24.
The description on the website reads: ‘Bex is f***king obsessed! She can’t get James out of her head. In the Peckham party shop where she twists balloon animals for minimum wage, all she can think about is him.
‘The locket her Mother gave to her – the day she started her period – clings like a curse, whispering warnings that Bex constantly ignores. As her grip on reality unravels, Bex circles the same stories about wolves, witches and wanking, each one darker than the last.
‘Will she ever break the loop? Or will she disappear into fantasy forever? LOOP is a chilling psychological folktale that drags us kicking and screaming into the horrors of an obsessive mind. What happens when you can’t tell yourself the truth? What happens when the story threatens to swallow you whole?’
Last month, the Guilford Shakespeare Company added some rather obvious alerts to its forthcoming production of David Copperfield.
A London theatre has slapped a series of bizarre trigger warning on a new show – telling ticket-holders to beware that ‘real soil’ and ‘balloon animals’ are used in the production (file image)
In what many visitors might think would be par for the course when seeing an adaption of Charles Dickens’ 1850 novel, the company warned that it contains scenes of ‘hardship.’
A number of big-name stars have hit out against the inclusion of trigger warnings on productions, insisting that being shocked and challenged is the very purpose of going to the theatre.
‘I can see why they exist, but if you’re that sensitive, don’t go to the theatre, because you could be very shocked,’ said Dame Judi Dench, 90, last year.
‘Where is the surprise of seeing and understanding it in your own way?’
Ralph Fiennes, 62, has also called for them to be scrapped, saying that people should be ‘shocked and disturbed’ by what they see on stage.
He said that he believed that modern audiences had started to ‘go soft.’
Sir Ian McKellen, 86, called the warnings ‘ludicrous’, and said he liked to be ‘surprised by loud noises and outrageous behaviour on stage.’
