I know it's a Daily Mail report but for pity's sake!
Discussion
Romeo and Juliet trigger warnings
For the love of God what is the world coming to?
Other news outlets corroborate.
For the love of God what is the world coming to?
Other news outlets corroborate.How does the Globe actually make these warnings? The only hard fact in The Mail's article is about the Globe's website. I'd say that's absolutely fine. But if someone stands up at the start of the performance and issues a warning I think it's a bit OTT.
Anyway, the article does give some good background info on Shakespeare but for some reason doesn't tell us how much his house was worth.
Anyway, the article does give some good background info on Shakespeare but for some reason doesn't tell us how much his house was worth.

Ultimate Irony really
I think the Bard himself wrote trigger warnings for at least one of his plays ..
“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
If you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.”
Randy Winkman said:
How does the Globe actually make these warnings? The only hard fact in The Mail's article is about the Globe's website. I'd say that's absolutely fine. But if someone stands up at the start of the performance and issues a warning I think it's a bit OTT.
Anyway, the article does give some good background info on Shakespeare but for some reason doesn't tell us how much his house was worth.
TelegraphAnyway, the article does give some good background info on Shakespeare but for some reason doesn't tell us how much his house was worth.

motco said:
Randy Winkman said:
How does the Globe actually make these warnings? The only hard fact in The Mail's article is about the Globe's website. I'd say that's absolutely fine. But if someone stands up at the start of the performance and issues a warning I think it's a bit OTT.
Anyway, the article does give some good background info on Shakespeare but for some reason doesn't tell us how much his house was worth.
TelegraphAnyway, the article does give some good background info on Shakespeare but for some reason doesn't tell us how much his house was worth.

It sounds like it's part of the literature for people visiting to watch it rather than someone going on stage and reading anything out.
I get why they do it these days but I also suspect it's aimed predominately at younger audiences (and I say that as someone who's only in their 40's).
I get why they do it these days but I also suspect it's aimed predominately at younger audiences (and I say that as someone who's only in their 40's).
Do trigger warnings actually work (in terms of stopping people being triggered) or is it just lawyer-driven arse covering? I would say that if putting a trigger warning at the start of Romeo & Juliet is genuinely preventing people being harmed by it, our society really needs to look at what we are doing wrong to create a climate where people can be harmed by a Shakespeare play. Trigger warnings are just treating the symptoms rather than the cause.
230TE said:
Do trigger warnings actually work (in terms of stopping people being triggered) or is it just lawyer-driven arse covering? I would say that if putting a trigger warning at the start of Romeo & Juliet is genuinely preventing people being harmed by it, our society really needs to look at what we are doing wrong to create a climate where people can be harmed by a Shakespeare play. Trigger warnings are just treating the symptoms rather than the cause.
They aren’t giving warnings st the start of the play from what I have read, its just in the programme isn’t it?It’s literally a non story designed to ‘trigger’ the easily ‘triggered’
Which is the irony of the story being about a trigger warning, maybe they should add n another section about being triggered about the trigger warning ;-)
230TE said:
Do trigger warnings actually work (in terms of stopping people being triggered) or is it just lawyer-driven arse covering? I would say that if putting a trigger warning at the start of Romeo & Juliet is genuinely preventing people being harmed by it, our society really needs to look at what we are doing wrong to create a climate where people can be harmed by a Shakespeare play. Trigger warnings are just treating the symptoms rather than the cause.
I don't think that trigger warnings can ever treat the cause but I don't think it means they have no value.. chrispmartha said:
They aren’t giving warnings st the start of the play from what I have read, its just in the programme isn’t it?
It’s literally a non story designed to ‘trigger’ the easily ‘triggered’
Which is the irony of the story being about a trigger warning, maybe they should add n another section about being triggered about the trigger warning ;-)
If it’s in the programme isn’t that a bit too late for nervous punters? It’s literally a non story designed to ‘trigger’ the easily ‘triggered’
Which is the irony of the story being about a trigger warning, maybe they should add n another section about being triggered about the trigger warning ;-)

230TE said:
Do trigger warnings actually work (in terms of stopping people being triggered) or is it just lawyer-driven arse covering?
They're really just "hey, you should be aware that there's something in here which we think has potential to upset people".It's not changing the content or sanitising anything, it's just a warning that if the subject is a sensitive one for you, you may want to prepare yourself mentally, or give it a miss.
For an example, just because it's the first thing I thought of, there are some episodes of Snowpiercer that have a warning at the start because they depict suicide. Very clear, slit-wrists-in-a-bathtub stuff.
Am I bothered? No. Did I need the warning? No. Did it impact me watching the story? No. So the warning has done me no harm.
Now, a coworker's relative killed himself not so long back, left behind a wife and kids, not great at all. Would having that warning help them not have something put in front of them that immediately dredged up very painful, recent memories, without warning, when they just wanted to watch a TV show?
Maybe. Hopefully.
The idea of a trigger warning is fine. It can help some people, without really getting in the way for others.
Those who read Daily Mail articles like this and let themselves get wound up about "snowflakes" need to have a bit of a think about things, and perhaps try and empathise more with other people. They're not tough and hardy, they're just t
ts.And yes, Romeo and Juliet is extremely well known, but there's still a first time that everyone read or saw it.
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