Political Correctness Gone Mad……

That’s a phrase I have heard an awful lot recently, but usually in the wrong context.  We constantly hear that ridiculous rules and regulations are making our lives impossible to lead, and that we never used to need these rules.  Well I am not going to comment on that, as it could open up a whole can of worms.  What I would ask all of you to remember though, is that Barton Players is an unincorporated organisation.  What does that mean?…Well…it means that if Barton Players did something illegal, or dangerous, your committee would have a legal responsibility for it.  If there was an accident, and the organisation were sued, it would be the Committee who could be personally liable for any fines.  So next time you feel that a committee member is being shall we say officious? Or acting like a Jobsworth….Please dont sigh and announce that it is “Political Correctness gone mad”….It might just be a committee member trying to ensure they do not lose the roof over their head.  As a committee member, and the Child Protection officer, I find an increasing amount of regulations and laws that we need to be aware of.  In many cases, they are reported as being a waste of time by hysterical tabloid journalists who are not in possession of the facts.  The new Vetting and Barring process that comes into existence this October is a great example of this.  It has been widely reported as an expensive waste of time and an invasion of civil liberties.  The press reported that giving other children a lift to an after school club would mean that you have to pay £64 to get a certificate.  It is simply not the case.  Anyone, for example, who wishes to help with the Summer School will need to be registered with the scheme, but this is free of charge to voluntary workers.  I will have to pay £64 for mine, but as a professional, I would expect that.  What it also means is that ANYONE who works with children will be registered on the scheme as a matter of course, and that the scheme is transferable between organisations…so no more having to apply to get a CRB check for every single activity you are involved with.  Now the facts are clear that this scheme will actually save a lot of time and money.  Perhaps we shouldn’t let facts get in the way of a good old moan?

Welcome to the blog

So as we celebrate our 25th year, I felt it was time to start dragging ourselves kicking and screaming into the modern world and start a blog.  What is a blog?  Well it is short for Weblog…A stream of ideas, discussion, a journal if you like….but all on line.  It represents only my personal views as the Chairman, and not necessarily those of my fellow committee members.  Having just returned from holiday, I find my list of Barton Players things to do to be getting bigger by the day.  Not that I am complaining, but I have been told by the rest of the committee that I need to delegate more!  🙂  I shall try to do so.

I watched a feature on the news earlier that was talking about the unusual and poor behaviour being demonstrated by many west end theatre audiences.  The theory goes, that in an effort to put bums on seats, they have reduced prices, and allowed alcohol in many of the theatres.  As a result, they have found that they are having to cope with aggressive, rowdy and drunken behaviour from their audiences.  Is this because of their relaxing of the rules, or is it perhaps more to do with the kind of shows that the West End is increasingly putting on?  Is the “X-Factor” culture creating a new kind of theatre audience that is perhaps less cultured than we have come to expect?  My gut feeling is that the shows that you put on tend to create the audience you deserve in many ways.  I was brought up to be quiet, polite and attentive in a theatre environment, no matter what the play or performance is.  I become incandescent with rage when I find myself sitting next to someone with a big bag of sweets, that they proceed to rattle and crunch and chew on for the whole of the show.  It’s not like the tickets are that cheap so for me not to complain.  I would like to see sweets banned from theatre foyers myself….am I alone?  Or should we just go down the road of dumbing down the culture that we have built up over the years, and just put on a stream of tribute acts, splitting each show into two halves by serving the audience up with giant troughs of baked beans and chips to satiate their needs?  I’m not for one minute suggesting that all musical theatre is low grade, but surely the glut of musicals in London theatres tells us something about the average theatre going public.

We recently put on two plays that would be considered out of our usual range in the form of Bouncers and Shakers.  They were both excellent productions, and I would like to congratulate the casts and crews and Directors of both of them.  It is without doubt an interesting direction for the group to go in, and one which I think we have made an excellent start with.  Interestingly though, the main concern before we put on these plays was the “Adult Content”.  The quality of the writing, the characterisation and perhaps most importantly, the moral messages that the play gives us, were all lost in a mire of discussion and in some cases outrage about the “Dreadful language”.  We received no complaints whatsoever about the language or the content.  In fact, I personally heard several people saying that they had got it all wrong about the plays.  So perhaps the message here is “Come along and make up your own mind”.  I think many people were put off and had their opinions tainted by what they had heard.  Theatre should surely be many things to many people?  In some cases, it hold up a mirror to society, and in some cases we may not like what we see.  Is that the fault of theatre or the fault of the society that we have created?  It’s an interesting debate isn’t it?  Was Oliver an unsuitable play for example?  It contained child labour, a murder, theft, a portrayal of a thief that had been construed by many as anti Semitic.  However, all of this seems to be excused because you can tap your feet to the songs.  The Merchant of Venice has been criticised heavily over the years for the portrayal of Shylock as an anti Semitic character…perhaps Shakespeare should have given him a song?  It may sound trite, but after all, it was only a few years ago that we produced Fiddler on the Roof…a musical that is essentially about ethnic cleansing.  Ultimately, seem to be living in a time that encourages complaining, in fact I would go as far as to say “Whining”.  If we had these standards over the last couple of hundred years, there would be virtually no art works, and just a series of empty, cleansed and sterile displays, that said nothing to any of us about the way we live our lives.  I know what I prefer.

What do you think?  We have a forum that has perhaps fallen into disuse compared to what it once was.  This is maybe down to Facebook etc, but there has recently been a small discussion on there about the content of plays, and it would be great to hear a few more opinions.  Pop in and register if you haven’t already, it’s very easy.  http://bartonbydesign.co.uk/players/phpBB3/index.php