Award-winning playwright Andrew Bovell calls for rethink on trigger warnings in wake of ‘cannibalism’ claim

Andrew Bovell calls on playwrights to ‘push back’ against the escalating trigger warning trend in theatre, because such warnings were often inaccurate, contained huge spoilers and could damage a play’s reputation.

Andrew Bovell at his Willunga property in South Australia. Picture Matt Turner

Leading playwright Andrew ­Bovell felt “upset”, “confused” and “physically shocked” when he went to a production of his internationally acclaimed play, When The Rain Stops Falling, and heard a recorded trigger warning state the work portrayed cannibalism.

“I object to my work being ­depicted as something it isn’t,’’ Bovell said. He added that he found the warning – which revealed “all of the play’s secrets and reveals” just as the show was starting “absurd” and “extreme”.

The Edge of Darkness and Lantana screenwriter joked ruefully: “Maybe they should have ­issued a trigger warning about the trigger warnings.’’

Yet when the award-winning South Australian writer raised his concerns with the Flinders University Performing Arts Society, which staged his play in July, it “stood by (its) choice to associate the play with cannibalism’’.

The controversy concerns a scene in which a grieving character mixes the dead ashes of her lover into her soup and consumes them. In the foreground, a mother learns about the death of her son.

Bovell said that scene “is a beautiful image and speaks to the poetics of the moment’’ and symbolises the lover’s deep grief.

“All the more worrying, then, that this moment is now described as an act of cannibalism.’’

The Weekend Australian revealed to a startled Bovell that the same cannibalism content warning was used by Brisbane community theatre company Brisbane Arts Theatre, which also staged When The Rain Stops Falling this year.

Brisbane Arts Theatre describes itself as an “iconic, independent theatre company” and its warning about the drama said: “This play contains sensitive and disturbing themes including murder, cannibalism, and child sexual abuse. Viewer discretion is ­advised.’’

Bovell was told it was likely the Flinders University production copied that content warning, despite the fact that murder and child sex abuse are not directly ­depicted in the play.

When The Rain Stops Falling, a multi-generational family saga about secrets, betrayal and forgiveness, premiered at the Adelaide Festival in 2008. It toured nationally and to London and New York, where it won five off-Broadway excellence awards and Time magazine named it the best new play of 2010.

A scene from Bovell’s play When The Rain Stops Falling. Picture: Jeff Busby

Bovell said that despite the claims of the two content warnings, “we don’t see an act of child abuse (in the play). A key character is revealed as being a pedophile. We don’t see any child murdered but there is an insinuation that a child was killed. This (the recorded Flinders University warning) was a premature reveal of a shocking moment and its warnings went on (with) themes of child abandonment and so on … it was so absurd.’’

Bovell stressed he was otherwise happy with the Flinders production and has no interest in pursuing a generational dispute with younger theatre workers.

However, he felt it was time for theatre writers to “push back” against the escalating trigger warning trend in theatre, because such warnings were often inaccurate, contained spoilers and could damage a play’s reputation.

Bovell’s objections come as leading arts figures have spoken out about the escalating trend in Australian and UK theatre. The Weekend Australian recently reported how trigger warnings have been slapped on everything from a fake moth dying on stage to the Nazism theme in the family musical The Sound of Music.

Leading director Neil Armfield said they were a “pet hate’’, while Australian Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett said the growth of such warnings reflected “a lack of mutual respect” between artists and their audiences.

Bovell said he feared such warnings would “infantilise” audiences. He said that in future he may have to “check the trigger warnings before I agree to issuing the rights’’ to theatre companies.

The man who wrote The Secret River stage script was “heartened” by the overwhelmingly supportive response he received to a Facebook post outlining the dispute. On Facebook, actor and writer Noel Hodda said trigger warnings were “anti-theatre” while Rachel Healy, former co-­director of the Adelaide Festival, told him: “I would definitely encourage you to push back (against the two content warnings).”

Director Merrilee Mills, who has directed When The Rain Stops Falling, said she was “horrified” by Bovell’s experience, while singer Bernadette Robinson asked: “What’s the point of going to theatre if not to be exhilarated … shocked, challenged? Really, I’m against (trigger warnings).’’

But Brisbane Arts Theatre president Paje Battilana said the drama company puts it content warning on its website and on signs in their venue because “we, like all businesses in our current world climate, do everything we can to ensure the safety of our audiences; this includes mental and emotional safety.”

Asked if the company consulted playwrights about content warnings to ensure they were accurate, Battilana replied: “Unfortunately we rarely have access to playwrights, as plays’ rights are acquired through distributors.’’

Even though The Weekend Australian informed the company about Bovell’s concerns on Thursday, the contentious content warning remained on its website on Friday.

The Weekend Australian attempted to contact Flinders University Performing Arts Society, but did not receive a response.