Shakespeare Censorship
08/10/07 14:32 Filed in:Shakespeare
| Politics
I received
this story,
which went out on the AP wire, from several of my
friends. I'm opposed to censorship in all forms,
and think the district made an egregious error in
shutting down the play during a performance rather
than reviewing the material beforehand. That said,
the district certainly has the right to determine
what entertainment and education is appropriate
for their students, and Complete Works, unedited,
is probably too racy for 11 year-olds. When Rap
Othello refers to "Desi and Cass playin' hide the
salami," I would be uncomfortable watching the
show with my niece of that age. The greatest irony
here is that there is no such objectionable
material in Act Two. If they had read the play
beforehand, they would have known that, and the
kids could have seen the rest of the play and
learned a thing or two about Hamlet and Freudian
psychological theory.
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