P.C. Hamlet

Recently I was pointed in the direction of an article entitled "The Modern Major Remodelling of the Gilbert and Sullivan Operas."  It appears in the February 2018 issue of New Theatre Quarterly (see citation below).  The author, Prof. Alan Fischler, was the inspiration for this blogging venture 177 posts ago.  It is only fitting that his new article is the subject of one of these posts...and that it intersects with the underlying theme of this blog.

The article describes the effects of political correctness on several of Gilbert and Sullivan's operas.  Included are discussions of Princess Ida, which mocks women's education, and The Mikado, which mocks the Japanese.  Prof. Fischler also describes Utopia, Limited, which "as an opera is not very good" (42), but recently has increased in popularity due to its anti-colonialist and anti-capitalist stance.  The article is an interesting and thought-provoking analysis of the ways in which modern sensibilities force reinterpretation of historical works and the validity of this revisionist behavior.

While Gilbert and Sullivan are outside of both the focus of this blog and the blogger's bailiwick, I had to smile when a reference to Hamlet appeared in the article.  It appears that cultural sensitivity (or hyper-sensitivity) is not a new phenomenon.  In 1907, The Mikado was banned in England out of fear that it would offend visiting Prince Fushimi of Japan.  Opposition to this measure rose on numerous fronts, including in the Houses of Parliament.  The following newspaper extract describes such one response.

"Mr Vincent Kennedy, M.P., has given notice that he will ask the Prime Minister whether his attention has been called to the fact that in the play of Hamlet the King of Denmark is portrayed as a murderer; and whether, in view of the fact that Denmark is a friendly power, and this reference to the King is liable to cause offence in Denmark, he will ask the Lord Chamberlain to prohibit the production of this play; and whether he intends to bring in legislation to define and limit the powers of the Lord Chamberlain"  (Baily, 417).

Common sense prevailed and performances of Hamlet were not interrupted.  It was six weeks, however, before the Home Secretary would announce in the House of Commons that the ban on The Mikado was "unconditionally withdrawn" (Baily, 419).


Citations

Baily, Leslie.  The Gilbert and Sullivan Book.  Revised ed.  New York:  Coward-McCann, Inc., 1957.

Fischler, Alan. “The Modern Major Remodelling of the Gilbert and Sullivan Operas.” New Theatre Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 1, 2018, pp. 35–46., doi:10.1017/S0266464X17000665.