‘The Little Red Warrior and His Lawyer’ celebrated its hundredth performance at the Globe Theatre in Regina, but a recent incident has taken the spotlight off the milestone.
On May 6, Grade 12 students from Campbell Collegiate were forced to leave the performance mid-way after teachers deemed the subject matter too mature. The play takes what is meant to be a humorous approach to colonization, but the educators took exception to a particular scene.
The scene in question features a drag performer.
Get daily National news
Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.
Playwright and director Kevin Loring says script materials were given to the teachers beforehand and nothing should have been a surprise.
“Teachers are busy, but sometimes they don’t read those materials or look at that email,” says Loring.
A clip of the controversial scene was shared online, despite filming during a play being frowned upon. The clip has sparked online hate towards the Globe Theatre and the production’s actors, specifically the one who played the drag performer.
“Theatre is a safe place,” says Loring, “it’s supposed to be a safe place. And it’s completely uncalled for to direct hatred towards trans or non-binary folks. It’s not cool at all.”
Regina Public Schools said in a statement that teachers felt the play reached higher levels of maturity than expected. Globe Theatre issued a statement saying they stand by their programming decisions.
Sania Ali has more details in the video.
Read the full article here
