The Bishop of Leeds has urged a theatre to withdraw an “offensive advertisement” for a play about incest which features a Pietà.
Bishop
Arthur Roche wrote to Ian Brown, the artistic director of the West
Yorkshire Playhouse, to protest against the poster, which uses an image
of a statue of the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Christ to
advertise a play about the incestuous relationship between two siblings.
In
his letter to Mr Brown, Bishop Roche wrote: “You will undoubtedly be
aware of the considerable disquiet and outrage that your company’s
advertisement of ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore is causing to Christians.
“I
feel sure that such a profound insult to people of Christian faith and
sensibilities was not intended by your company, but I would urge you now
as a matter of courtesy to remove the offensive advertisement from
public view.”
‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore is a controversial 17th-century tragedy which offers an uncritical account of incest.
A
spokeswoman for the theatre said that it was “discussing all
possibilities”. She said that the West Yorkshire Playhouse had replied
to the bishop personally as well as issuing a public statement on the
matter.
She said the theatre “regrets any upset that the image”
may have caused which she said was never the intention.
The scene was
intended to depict a sacristy.
She said: “Originally set in
17th-century Italy and in our production Italy of the 1960s, the
religious faith of the characters is integral to the development of
their stories and we felt it was important that this was reflected in
any image chosen to promote the production. The poster is intended to
represent a sacristy. The focus of the image, and therefore at the
centre of the poster is the picture of the children holding hands, the
suggestion being that candles are being lit and prayers given in the
sacristy for these children."
“All complaints received by the
Playhouse regarding this issue are being dealt with accordingly and we
are taking all enquiries into this image very seriously. As with any
campaign when rehearsals start we begin looking at alternative images,
these will be used for other promotional material and on our website. It
is testament to the power of this play that nearly 400 years later, the
title ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore can still cause such controversy.”
John
Grady, the diocesan spokesman, said the Playhouse’s line was that the
diocese misread the poster and would not take the posters down.
He said
the poster featuring Our Lady with the crucified Christ juxtaposed with
the play’s title was a marketing ploy.
He added: “The poster is offensive. The approach of Holy Week makes it calculated”.