AIBU that I'm unsettled by a school play for making a joke about prostitution

[Woolyminded]

I'm either becoming a raging, permanently angry feminist in my middle age, or I'm justifiably miffed. I need to be told whether I need to get a grip or send the email I'm thinking of writing.
I love musicals and on Monday night I went to see a performance of the Sound of Music at my partners kids school. The school is known as a predominantly middle-class, well off families, very disciplined, very Christian sort of school. So I wasnt surprised when the performance was very swish, polished, and the kids were confident and sparkling. I was impressed.
In the first half two of the von trapps servants are engaging in a bit of banter about being in the navy. The pretty female housekeeper says something like 'i wouldn't know, I've never been in the navy', the male butler replies 'thats a shame, youd have made a fortune" with a sly wink at the audience. I cant think of what this could refer to apart from prostitution?! It just seemed so wrong to be said by a young boy, to a girl, in front of an audience of children and parents. They couldve left it out. I'm not a prude but I don't see whats funny about a joke referring to the objectification and exploitation of women.
When I mentioned it to my partner he brushed it off with 'it was a joke only the adults would get, its harmless'.
The older I get the more bothered I am about the normalisation of shit like this.

The wink would have been an acting choice.

You are not allowed to change any words when you buy the performing rights to a show.

I assume these were secondary kids, not primary.

Oh dear, don't be that parent. In fact it's not even your kids school, it's your Partners kids school. No one seems to have a sense of humour anymore. The World has gone mad.

And the housekeeper is not meant to be a pretty little thing but a stoic, humourless ultra efficient housekeeper.

@whywouldntyou I presumed always because she would have risen rapidly through the ranks.

@balalake

I don't remember that in the film version. Not appropriate in my opinion.

That’s because the film was only loosely based on the stage show.

@ElvenDreamer

As far as I know that line is a reference to the way Frau Schmidt is so excellent at giving orders, it's not a reference to prostitution

But the navy doesn't pay by results, does it. If this were the meaning then the punchline would be something like 'what a shame, they'd have made you Admiral'.

I’ve seen several professional and amateur version of sound of music including being in one myself as a teenager and that line was always said in a sarcastic sort of way referring to her authoritarian ways.

What palava said. It also perpetuates stereotypes that service people use prostitutes. I think the way you interpreted it was correct OP and that most people in the audience would have viewed it as having the same meaning. I would be upset from a feminist perspective but also as a military family- if there are military kids at the school how to they feel hearing the message that it's normal if their serving parent uses prostitutes? I would raise with the school 100%.

I wouldn’t complain but I do not see how “you’d have made a fortune” could be referencing how good at giving orders she is. Fair enough it might not be about prostitution but it’s a silly line that doesn’t make much sense if the point was about giving orders.

@lottiegarbanzo

There were several films made in the 70s that should be considered highly problematic and Jodie Foster was in 2 of them.

I wouldnt find it funny. But I wouldn't be annoyed about it. It wouldn't enter my head that it had anything to do with prostitution. Why would it.

@Viviennemary

I wouldnt find it funny. But I wouldn't be annoyed about it. It wouldn't enter my head that it had anything to do with prostitution. Why would it.

Seriously? What else would it mean?

Prostitution jokes
Have no place in a school play
Maybe oversight?

I find it odd that people are still talking about prostitution. Elvendreamer’s explanation - about rising through the ranks quickly to a highly paid role - makes much more sense.

As a teacher, when faced with an ambiguous line like that, made worse by a stage direction to wink at the audience, I would have edited something; either the line itself or switched the stage direction from a knowing sideways wink to snapping into an enthusiastic salute.
A PP has suggested directors are prohibited from making changes to licenced plays, but a small thing like that? Who'd know?
Oh, and hi again, haikyew!

If you're concerned about it, contact the company who supplied the script.

However, most literature is problematic. Romeo & Juliet has 2 kids dying by suicide. Juliet is 13. Have you seen Grease? Actually, have you turned on the TV ever? The only way to avoid this is for schools to produce brand new, woke, plays, but many people attend musicals because they enjoy familiar songs. And musicals, in particular, are full of tasteless humour.

I used to produce school plays. Voluntarily, during my own time. It was unbelievably hard work because as well as sorting the acting and learning of lines, I had to source costumes and make props with zero budget. I once produced a panto with 14-year-olds. A character was hanged at the end for their crimes. The Head came to the dress rehearsal and forced it to be changed in case some in the audience might be triggered if they had been affected by suicide. That was the last thing I produced.

This is a long-winded way of saying, YABU. Do not email the school.

Hello @Valeriekat It's nice of you to tell me about JF's early films but, why?

Have you confused me with another poster? (Or psychically intuited my old Jodie Foster crush?! Though she had not come to mind at all, in connection with a discussion of TSOM).

Given that the person who they are making a joke around is the housekeeper, I would have taken it that the men in the Navy were very untidy and she would have had a good job cleaning up after them . Given that is what her job actually is .

So has the 'knowing wink' been re-defined in a way many of us don't know about? I understand it's use in drama as signalling a saucy comment or double entendre.

Write to the school and question it. If schools don't want their time taken up dealing with questions like this they shouldn't produce plays with dodgy content.

@shinynewapple22

Given that the person who they are making a joke around is the housekeeper, I would have taken it that the men in the Navy were very untidy and she would have had a good job cleaning up after them . Given that is what her job actually is .

Sailors are very, very tidy indeed. They have to be living and working in tiny cramped quarters. That's where the phrase 'ship shape' comes from. And I guess the NCOs in charge have to be strict/bossy to din those habits into the young ratings.

I think it has been “acted wrong” by the student which has given the impression of prostitution, rather than rising through the navy ranks due to her manner. So either the student has incorrectly interpreted the script as meaning prostitution or they were for some reason told to deliver the line this way.

I think in this case you might have misunderstood OP, but in general I agree with you.

We won’t be attending Panto again for this reason. The inherent misogyny of drag queens combined with some very questionable ‘jokes’ really needs to die a death now, it’s 2022 and these things are no longer acceptable IMO.

As a teacher, when faced with an ambiguous line like that, made worse by a stage direction to wink at the audience, I would have edited something;

There is no stage direction to wink at the audience in the Sound of Music. It’s a show that does not break the fourth wall.

If schools don't want their time taken up dealing with questions like this they shouldn't produce plays with dodgy content.

'Schools' don't produce plays. Members of staff do, putting in hours of their own time. If too much more time is taken up, they'll probably say 'sod this for a game of soldiers', and stop producing plays at all. Then there'll be nothing to worry about.