Cancel culture? My play was shut down by rightwing activists before it even opened | Josie Dale-Jones
Tuesday 10th May 2022
A small campaign’s capacity to cancel – unseen – The Family Sex Show is far more frightening than anything I had to say in it
I am the producer and co-creator of a piece of theatre that was cancelled before it had even been seen. It started like this: a group of people online began to call for the show to be shut down. It gained some traction and led to a petition on the platform Citizen Go, which is believed to have links with extremist hard-right Christian groups in the US. My company, as well as the staff at the theatre venues we were due to be performing at, faced threats of violence and abuse against staff.
The show is called The Family Sex Show. Its aim is to reimagine the way we think and talk about relationships and sex. Making it was a process of collaboration with a diverse group of people who have varied life experiences. The show is a fun and playful performance made up of songs, dances and personal stories. It is about bodies and how society views them. It also explores themes including gender, sexuality, pleasure and boundaries. But really, the show is about care and mutual respect – and it exists in the hope that it can be a part of breaking down some of the systems of oppression alive today.
Josie Dale-Jones is a theatre maker and producer. She runs the theatre company ThisEgg
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