Which play caused rioters to storm a theatre and the production to be closed prematurely, in December 2004?

Question

Who was the author? Who was protesting? What was the protest about? And what were the consequences?

Answer 1

Behzti (Dishonour) by the Sikh woman playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti was cancelled part-way through its run by the Birmingham Rep. The rep had staged a previous play of hers which was successful and was committed to developing theatre by Asian playwrights for Asian audiences,, having previously staged an adaptation of the Ramayana Story.

The play dares to question the honour code in the Sikh community and how it will tend to cover up the truth rather than incur dishonour by examining events following sexual abuse and rape in a Gurdwara (Sikh temple) in which a religious elder is implicated. There is a murder, in which this corrupt elder, who has been doing this to young women attending the Gurdwara for years, finally gets his come-uppance.

The play proved extremely popular with young second generation Asian women who flocked to see it, The production of the play cause older, mostly male first generation Sikhs to demand changes in the script, eg set the events in a community centre. The equivalent in a Christian community would be to demand that T.S, Eliot's play Murder In The Cathedral about the murder of Thomas-A-Becket was retitled and restaged as Murder In a Community Centre,

The Sikhs mobilised nationally and demonstrations of several hundred people greeted theatregoers attending the play. The audience, mostly children, attending the other play, a children's show The Witches by Roald Dahl, also on at the Main House at the same theatre, were also having to run the guantlet of the protest to go and see their production.

The police faiked to protect the theatre-goers and their right to see the play, and the theatre workers and their right to work in it.

What started as peaceful protests, after a few evenings of low-key policing (the Wikipaedia account is wrong on this point, the riot was not on the opening night), led to the theatre being stormed, stones thrown breaking its windows, the performance of 18th December being prevented from taking place, and following the police saying they could not guarantee the safety of the theatregoers, led to the theatre cancelling the rest of the three week run, half-way through it. The author received death threats and had to go into hiding.

The issue is of course censorship and the freedim of artistic expression, Within days 700 leading theatre practitioners had written a letter to the Guardian newspaper defending Artistic Freedom from self-appointed censors and the Independent Newspaper had published the scene that caused the controversy on its front page so readers could make their own minds up about it, given that they were no longer able to go and see the production of the play. And the writer Arnold Wesker argued coherently that there is no such thing as a right not to be offended (such as the older Sikhs were demanding), offence is just one of life's knocks that adults learn to take in their stride, like being jostled in a crowd.

It was argued by other commentators that Gurpreet Bhatti was just as much a voice of Sikhism as the older generation and its leaders were, and that respect for multi-cultiralism had to include respect for her voice being heard and not suppressed, In fact not all the local Sikh Gurdwaras were against the play. The actor Madhav Sharma, who played the corrupt elder, describes how the leader of one Gurdwara came to the theatre every evening to help him put on a Sikh turban and look authentic in the part.

Three weeks later evangelical Christians were picketing the BBC, demanding it not screen Jerry Springer The Opera, and have subsequently picketed touring performances of this award-winning musical and persuaded stores not to stock its DVD. The Irish Protestant playwright Gary Mitchell then had his car blown up by right-wing Loyalists who objected to the way he portrayed the Protestant community in his plays. He too received death threats and has had to go into hiding.

The religious right basically wants to prevent people thinking for themselves and their narrow-minded bigotry is back on the agenda. The danger is that actors and writers censor themselves for fear of the consequences of writing and performing in controversial shows.

Theatre censorship was removed in the UK in the late 1960s when the power to censor plays was removed from the Lord Chamberlain's Office. It came in when the Government of the day wanted to prevent the political satires of Henry Fielding (the novelist who wrote Tom Jones) and charged the Lord Chamberlain with exercising that censorship. It took a long time to get rid of it again.

We do not want a return to the days of the Puritans of Oliver Cromwell's time, who closed all the theatres as they believed theatre was immoral. That is the threat implied by the events surrounding Behzti.

The actors; union Equity has taken a stance on the issue as has the Writers Guild of GB. The TUC passed a motion at its Brighton Congress last September opposing censorship, (proposed by the WGGB and seconded by Equity) and Equity is organising an industry-wide conference on censorship this autumn.

It is appalling that two writers should receive death threats and go into hiding. It is totally unacceptable that performers should be made to cower in their dressing rooms because the theatre is stormed and they are made fearful for their safety. What kind of society would the religious zealots turn us into?

However, writers and performers are fighting back. Precious freedoms are at stake, here.

Answer 2

The Kings of the Kilburn High Road, at the Tricycle theatre. The protesters were middle class Irish and were protresting that the play portrayed the labouring Irish in London as drunks. The writer was stabbed andf the director pelted with bottles. The play was never seen again.

Answer 3

it was Jerry Springer the Musical. I don't know who wrote it but i know the rioters are Christian Activists. The consequences.... Well as Barnum said:' I don't care what you say about me, just make sure you spell my name right' it was great publicity... Hope this helps.
extract from wikipedia:
'A musical by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas, Jerry Springer - The Opera, is based on his show. It first became popular at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2002. It has since played at the Royal National Theatre in London, and has moved to London's West End. It was also screened on BBC 2 Television, causing some controversy.'

Answer 4

Behzti (in Punjabi, Dishonour) is a play written by the British Sikh playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti. The play became the centre of a major controversy in the United Kingdom in December 2004 when the opening night was disrupted by a riot at the Birmingham Rep theatre. The play was eventually cancelled.

Cancellation notice of the play at the Birmingham RepThe controversy was caused by a particular scene in the play, which is set in a Gurdwara (Sikh temple), that included scenes of rape, physical abuse and murder. Some members of the Sikh community held that the themes of the play (and in particular its setting) were deeply offensive to the Sikh faith. The opening night (December 18, 2004) was cancelled when hundreds of protesters gathered around the theatre, with three people being arrested following acts of criminal damage to the theatre.

On December 20, 2004, after an emergency meeting of the theatre management, and negotiations involving the local Sikh community, West Midlands Police and the Commission for Racial Equality , the Birmingham Repertory decided to cancel the play. Another group, the Birmingham Stage Company, offered to put the play on, but after allegedly receiving death threats Bhatti said she did not want it to go ahead.

The Sikh protesters, many of whom say they do not support the violence of a minority, claim they would be happy to see minor changes in the script so that the play was not set in a Sikh temple. Sewa Singh Mandha, chairman of the Council of Sikh Gurdwaras in Birmingham, stated: "In a Sikh temple, sexual abuse does not take place, kissing and dancing don't take place, rape doesn't take place, homosexual activity doesn't take place, murders do not take place".

Supporters of the play say the play's cancellation was an affront to freedom of speech. More than 700 arts figures, including Prunella Scales, Tariq Ali, Terry Jones, Andrew Motion, Jude Kelly, Richard Eyre, Ayub Khan Din, Willy Russell, Jonathan Coe, Sheila Hancock, Timothy West, and Samuel West signed a letter in support of the playwright. The letter read, in part, "We all have the right to protest peacefully if a work of art offends us. We do not have the right to use violence and intimidation to prevent that work of art from being seen by others.".

The episode closely followed the murder of Theo Van Gogh, a Dutch film-maker killed for making a film judged to be critical of Islam. The following month, Christian groups publicly protested against the BBC screening the controversial musical Jerry Springer - The Opera.

Behzti served to re-ignite the debate as to what extent it is possible to reconcile respect for religious sensibilities and the preservation of freedom of speech in the increasingly secular societies of modern Europe. At the time, the UK government was proposing the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, which included controversial legislation outlawing the incitement of religious hatred. Whether the legislation was an anticipatory response to prevent such controversies, or in fact created the atmosphere in which they grew, is another topic of debate.

Answer 5

Wow I never heard of Behzti but I looked it up. Must be an awesome play.

Answer 6

What is this, a quiz, or do you really want to know?

Answer 7

Wow.....Is this one of those "I'll ask a question, and then answer it myself(s)" questions?

Answer 8

*edit: i was totaly off. dont mind me*