Controversial Playwright

Andy Horwitz

“…there’s been little public outcry here in support of the playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, who went underground in England in December after receiving death threats in response to her play Behzti (Dishonor). The play’s run in Birmingham was canceled last month in the face of violent protests by members of Britain’s Sikh community, who objected to scenes of rape, murder, and corruption set in a Sikh temple.”

From a Village Voice article by Alisa Solomon.

Anybody know anything about this?

In general, it has probably been a long time since any American playwright has generated that kind of controversy.

Is this sort of controversy a good thing (theater is relevant dammit!) or not a good thing (restricting our freedom of expression).

Discuss.

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1 response to “Controversial Playwright”

  1. George Hunka

    I’m not sure I understand the question, but speaking as an American blogger I’ve written about this here:

    http://www.ghunka.com/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/Theater/Politics

    Perhaps the American theater community just doesn’t feel that this is immediate enough (unlike our participation in the Iraq War) or important enough to engage. On the other hand, maybe its well-intentioned political sensibilities encourage them to refrain from response — a similar protest, though non-violent, certainly greeted Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi here in New York and elsewhere around the country a few years ago, but in that case the protestors were fundamentalist Christians, not a minority ethnic community. In which case, one wonders just how deep the cherished belief in freedom of speech goes in the American dramatic community.

    Reply

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