by Robin Galen Kilrain~
Banned Plays: Censorship Histories of 125 Stage Dramas
Dawn B. Sova
By Robin Galen Kilrain
Blocked from view. Deemed not fit for the theatre-going public. Cut, sliced and diced. Each of the shows referred to by Dawn Sova in Banned Plays: Censorship Histories of 125 Stage Dramas has been “challenged” sometime during the past 2,500 years of theatre. Some in more than one country. Some for more than one reason. Through this rich potpourri of plighted plays, Sova seeks to represent all such works — a number that is, unfortunately, far too large to be cited in any single volume.
Though anything but boring when absorbed entry by entry, Banned Plays may (as is the case with Jon Jory’s Tips: Ideas for Actors, reviewed in my last dispatch) best serve you taken in multiple sittings. Browse through this useful reference book whenever you’re in the mood for a bit of historical context. Or scan it when you need a hole in your theatre’s season patched — planning, should you unearth a buried treasure, to include a program note alerting your audience to its precarious past.
Sova supplies everything necessary to pique your interest in a wide range of pressured plays. A summary of each accompanies an explanation of its censorship woes. And references for further research top off each entry. From Hair to Hamlet and from Tartuffe to Tea and Sympathy, whether musical or straight, centuries- or decades old, all have shared a struggle to strut their hours upon the stage. Describing their fights for survival, Sova, although lacking a background in theatre, possesses plenty of expertise on the banning of both drama and the written word: She has also penned Forbidden Films: Censorship Histories of 125 Motion Pictures and several volumes exploring banned books.
Offering yet more information for the inquiring mind, following the body of the book are a thorough bibliography and several appendixes. The first appendix introduces the featured playwrights in concise profiles. The second breaks down the censorship into four broad categories: religious, sexual, political and social. (Some unlucky dramas, such as Long Day’s Journey into Night, can claim the dubious honor of holding a place in more than one of these.)The third appendix lists 100 additional threatened pieces of theatre.
This final list is intriguing on its own, creating some strange bedfellows as older classics such as Hedda Gabler and An Ideal Husband are mentioned alongside Fences and Greater Tuna. But don’t skip over this section’s introductory paragraph, where several sad realities are revealed: Although some plays can eventually be restored, allowing them to be staged as intended, others aren’t so lucky. Full scenes, once cut, are sometimes lost forever. Public interest, or lack thereof, can also deliver a potential performance’s deathblow. When the initial banning is caused by a show’s topical nature, being belatedly deemed “safe” often cannot rescue it once times, and opinions, have shifted.
Though a number of out-and-out censorship laws — such as the Wales Padlock Law of 1927 in this country and the Theatres Act of 1737 in England –– have themselves ultimately been banned, groups in any community can still powerfully hold sway. In fact, battles with local government officials, school organizations and church groups can continue to threaten even award-winning pieces. Sova’s account of multiple forms of challenge to Angels in America, Millennium Approaches, after it received both a Tony and a Pulitzer, is indeed eye opening.
No matter how perpetrated, or by whom, modification and restriction of playwrights’ words have caused an enormous loss over the centuries. Sova’s book sounds a wake-up call for what she sees as a persistent threat. While stating that “many people mistakenly view stage censorship as an archaism belonging only in the past,” Sova maintains that it “remains a disturbing reality in the 21st century” (xi). Perhaps, as we are instructed to do in other parts of our lives these days, it may behoove us to stay vigilant in this realm as well.
