I have sent this letter to The Really Useful Company and The School of Rock Uk and received no response. What do you think I should do. I'm not trying to censor their production I just think that if they are charging £100 plus for tickets they should earn parents of children under 10 of the swearing like the producers of any other form of entertainment so that parents can decide whether they want their children to be exposed to such language or not.
Dear Andrew Lloyd - Webber and Julian Fellowes,
For my son’s 12 birthday on the 25th of November I booked 9 tickets to come and see School of Rock UK. The children were aged between 7 and 12 and there were also several adults in our party. We all thoroughly enjoyed the performance and thought that the performers were incredible, the hard work and energy that goes into each performance must be immense. My children, and family, would love me to book for them to go again and friends have asked me if they should take their children to see the show but I’m afraid I have to broach the subject with some degree of hesitation because of the bad language.
I’m sure your show will be an enormous success and earn huge amounts of money so it doesn’t really matter whether I recommend School of Rock or not but it is terribly disappointing that I have to come away from such a breathtaking show explaining to my young companions why such swear words were allowed. I always say to my children that people who use bad language do so because they are not lucky enough know as many great words as we do or that it is a bad habit or laziness. I can’t imaging why two of the greatest living British wordsmiths would think it’s ok to pepper a show with such language when it is recommended for age 5 upwards with no warning. You clearly realise the mistake because you change the lyrics for television performances and if it was a television programme we as parents would be warned, but we are afforded no such right to choose whether we feel the language appropriate with your live performances.
As you can see from the date of our visit, I have wrestled with whether to email you or not. First of all it is very difficult to find a contact email address, I had to trawl several websites. My delay was also because the subject of language and what is common vernacular is quite divided. My 26 year old son and my husband who has lived in America were not as shocked as myself and the children by the offending words. I understand completely that the spirit of the show is rebellion and the original film is American where some of the words aren’t thought of as swearing. However, this is also true of Matilda and Tim Minchin managed to convey the energy and revolt with intelligent wit and clever use of the english language, and if you are proud of the lyrics then why change them for television ?
It’s really hard to explain the nuances of what is right and wrong to today’s young people, influenced as they are by social media, games consoles and street culture. School of Rock UK had the opportunity to show the youth of Great Britain that hard work, energy and determination can be just as thrilling and exciting, that you don’t need to swear to be dynamic and charismatic. Unfortunately, that opportunity has not been taken and yet another role model is telling my children that my standards of language are old fashioned and don’t matter. In a few short years 5 year olds will think it’s perfectly ok to tell their teachers and parents that they are pissed and people of your generation will say how dreadful the youth of today are and how the parents don’t bring them up correctly.
Poor form, Mr Lloyd - Webber and Mr. Fellowes. Poor form.
Regards