To be LIVID at the National Theatre?

[helpmeunderstand04]

I was at the National Theatre festival this Saturday which was advertised as outdoor live music, dance, performance, workshops and family fun. I thought great, perfect way to spend a Saturday.

We were there from 6:30 and the drag act on stage was promoting inclusivity and had, what started as a great message. They said...

'We need to teach our children to open their hearts, teach our children to open their minds and to teach our children to open their legs'. The last line was said with the same tone as if it was a risque joke.

Both me and DP are just disgusted by what we saw. We couldn't believe it. This act had a short dress on and their bulge was showing through out. It was just plain weird. Fine in a club, not at a festival literally targeted as being good for families.

From then the evening just got weirder. There was a drag queen and a drag king contest. Great! I literally had never seen drag king acts and was really excited and thought it was great representation and diversity.

However, with every single drag king act they took their clothes off. No drag queens take their clothes off, but the drag kings did and were showing their scars from their mastectomy/gender affirming surgery. I do get the message that they are proud and don't need to hide and really I do agree with that. But it just felt weird that women who now identify as men are still having to take their clothes off, where as the drag queens didn't remove one item of clothing.

AIBU in feeling angry at the marketing team at the national theatre?

That sounds....odd. If I was there with adults I'd go home and just think what a misguided event. If I was there with DC I'd feel livid like you. Child sex abuse isn't something risqué to joke about, it's a disgusting thing to make fun of.

I would make a formal complaint about the child sex comment.

How utterly bizarre, I think you should contact them about the content tbh, were there people with kids there?

What was the actual event?

I would make a complaint about that ‘joke’. It isn’t funny and it’s hugely offensive.

It was the National Theatre’s River Stage festival. Maybe I misunderstood and this weekend wasn't for families, but lots of babies and children were there yesterday. This is the copy from their website on the event:

Over five weekends, starting in July, leading arts and performance companies will take over the stage to celebrate the best of British culture including performances from drag artists, dance performances, live streamed theatre and plenty of activities for the whole family to enjoy.

Even if this weekend wasn't for children, sexualising children in that way is all shades of wrong, if not illegal.

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/river-stage-2022-the-glory-weekend

Surely it was this? I really have no clue how you thought this was suitable for children or family friendly.

“The Glory drag contests for showcasing emerging kings and queens celebrates, all genders and identities in a 2 hour extravaganza hosted by Sue Gives A Fuck and Prinx Chiyo.”

I mean, the joke was disgusting and not acceptable but nothing about this whole even screams ‘bring your kids’.

That's fucking disgusting. All of it.

Is this another drag Queen children’s show scary tale-trolling? There’s at least one of these fake fearmongering threads per week.

That is fair, looking at it now I wouldn't have thought it was for kiddies.

I just saw it advertised in time out and it didn't sound that bad and had a lot of emphasis on family fun.

www.timeout.com/london/theatre/river-stage

That sounds a great show but surely better for after say 7pm? Strange scheduling choice I think.

No, I am all for drag story telling hour. They are fun and harmless and the kids love it.

No problem with drag since I was there. It was the comment about open legs that truly shocked me.

Please complain jokes like that need stamping out, whoever makes them.

I'm astonished hiw you could read fear-mongering from the OP. A clear sex abuse message. A 'family fun' event which is clearly nothing like family fun 🙄

Please do follow up with the National Theatre, the event promoters and the local council.

I don’t know how in earth you looked at that programme and thought, great, let’s take the kids. I’m gay and we wouldn’t have taken our kids to what was clearly an adult show.

and why did you stay? It wasn’t obvious right from the start that it wouldn’t be suitable? You were offended from the get go, why did you stay on?

This ^

It just gives every artist a bad name.

My daughter is trans - brought up with the whole - what is in your pants is private.

Just because people are different, it gives them no right to be expected to be funny.

It's like the Bernard Manning / Roy Chubby Brown / Jim Davidson of the drag queen world.

They are equating their pride and openness with simply just sexual activity.

Still, at least we can teach and love our children with understanding, openness, honesty, respect and let them know that love is love with whomever you fall for. Or go out have an ONS it's all part of life.

But don't do yourself a disservice by joking about children.

It was fairly clear that this weekend was a celebration for pride.

nornally the river stage is family friendly but nothing about this weekend said it was.

im a bit 🤔 at the open legs comment I’m not sure that was appropriate at all but apart from that the marketing was very clear about what this weekend was

although I was slightly confused about some of the timings

And I agree, a little research would have shown - not for kids (and not funny)

teach our children to open their legs

That is just hiding in plain sight. Please complain.

Whether or not it was family-friendly, I think it's disgusting to "joke" about children in that way. There is no 'right' way to take that comment - it's a sexual comment about children and, to me, that is not something you can laugh about.

If this is usually a slot and a stage usually used for family friendly entertainment than I think the OP is perfectly reasonable to expect that, and it sounds as though other families did too. If it was unsuitable for children then that should have been made clear when arriving at the event.

'We need to teach our children to open their hearts, teach our children to open their minds and to teach our children to open their legs'

This has made me feel sick and no, I'm not exaggerating-I'm a CSA Survivor and I find that being said absolutely revolting

Please, please complain to the National. I'm not someone who usually complains but I absolutely would in this case.

Are you going to take your kids out to a cocktail bar next, then complain that there are adults getting drunk and talking too loudly about topics that aren’t suitable for children??

A. The joke was entirely inappropriate and disgusting. I would certainly complain about that.

B. That is clearly not a program for children.