National Youth Theatre play cancelled. Censorship, please, we're British?

[JulyKit]

So the National Youth Theatre was about to stage Homegrown, a play about radicalisation, with a cast of over 100 young people.

It was a play that looked incredibly interesting, genuinely engaging, thought provoking, 'challenging' - you know, all the stuff that contemporary theatre should be but rarely actually is.

It's been cancelled.

www.thestage.co.uk/news/2015/nyt-radicalisation-play-axed-amid-cries-censorship/

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/04/controversial-isis-related-play-cancelled-two-weeks-before-opening-night

Such a shame.

Thank you , almondcakes. I'd already read that article. It doesn't suggest to me that the play is 'about "Isis"' per se, or that it's an apology for 'ISIS' recruits or supporters.

It's odd, isn't it, that the play should have been cancelled so late, given that by the time it was moved to UCL Academy, the school must have been well aware that it was an 'immersive production'? (Presumably the Bethnal Green(?) school played some part in its selection as the original venue for the play, also.)

Perhaps there were concerns for the physical safety of the children at the school. If so, it still seems odd to me that there hasn't been an announcement about that.

From what I can gather, there is nothing to suggest that the writers/producers were ignorant of, or insensitive to anyone's feelings.

From what I can gather, there is nothing to suggest that the writers/producers were ignorant of, or insensitive to anyone's feelings.

Really badly phrased - sorry.

Obviously, creating a piece of theatre that is worth watching (and isn't 100% schmaltz), will potentially impact on someone's feelings. But I was curious about almondcakes's comment that "The feelings, wellbeing and expression of those who are the targets of ISIS's genocidal activities have never been mentioned by those involved in the production, those complaining about the production being cancelled or the media reporting on it."

July, I never even remotely said it was an apology for Isis supporters!

The school was chosen because of its location. It is near to the school that the girls who left to join ISis attended. The people involved in the play have made it clear that is the reason for the play and its location - so yes, it is about ISIS. It says in the article that it is an exploration of the motivations of those who join.

I don't know what you mean about the physical safety of the children.

The school did know what the topic of the production was. School's have a responsibility to consider children's safety and wellbeing in wider terms than immediate physical safety, if that is your meaning.

For example, if a school hired out their premises for an event that explored the motivations of those who murder gay people, the school would consider whether this was insensitive to gay pupils even if they were not in attendance at the event.

If a school hired out their premises for an event that explored the motivations of those who joined racist organisations and assaulted black people, the school would consider whether this was insensitive to black pupils, even if they were not in attendance at the event.

That is about students feeling safe at school, and about their wellbeing. That is the priority of the school - the wellbeing of its own students.

Sorry, the school did not know what the topic of the production was.

They cancelled the booking when they found out.

almond , it seems that the play is 'about ISIS' insofar as it is about the lives of young people vulnerable to radicalisation. It is about the lived experience of many, many young people. Its writers workshopped the play's subject matter with young people in east London.

It's nothing new for theatre companies to this sort of work around difficult, disturbing subjects: gang culture, drugs, domestic violence - all of them issues that are very much part of the lives of some young people involved in the production of the plays. It's not at all unusual that those young people have experienced terrible things related to subject matter explored by theatre companies that work with those young people. That is a large part of the purpose of many theatre companies that work with young people: they provide a platform for exploration of those issues.

Apart from your posts on this thread, I have not seen anything to suggest that 'Homegrown' was cancelled because it was seen as insensitive to refugees who have escaped ISIS. Have you?

I referred to the physical safety of people at the school because it may well be a concern that if the school is perceived as the venue of a play that explores radicalisation, then it will be vulnerable to attack. That is partly why I referred to Birmingham Rep and Behzti in an earlier post. B Rep closed the production because it was targetted by groups of angry men who objected to the play (without having seen in, but on the premise, apparently, that it was 'insensitive'). That may also be why it was proposed that there should be police present during performances of Homegrown. But as yet we don't really know, because no further explanation has been provided.

Of course the wellbeing of students should be schools' priority. But the fact is that radicalisation - its presence, vulnerability to it, effects of it - is a real, constant, lived experience of many, many children and young people in east London. Treating that fact as a taboo subject will not make it go away - not even for those children of refugees who have escaped ISIS. Many of us think it will do the opposite, which is one of the reasons that we are interested in Homegrown.

I don't think genocide is equivalent to gang culture, drugs or domestic violence.

I don't think young people joining ISIS is a taboo subject. I think it is insensitive and inappropriate to situate the production in a school.

If the play is well written, not biased in an offensive way, then I feel that holding it in a school is ideal. Watching young actors acting out how children of that age are behaving in real life, in the actual location where young people do that.
Schools have a part to play in helping children to avoid radicalisation and understand the issues. Hosting a play of this type (a good, sensible play) would be part of fulfilling that role. And local families would be far more likely to attend a play held there than in some theatre in central London.