Material is material, and you need to learn where your own boundaries lie. And that is going to based on your own personal beliefs.
A couple of years back, I had a chance to (and did work on) Marlowe’s Edward II. A play, that is about class, and the love (could be friendship, could be sexual) between two men.
Now, during the process of the show – since Class distinction is not as obvious in America, our production underlined the love (and this case sexual love) between the king and the commoner. Including a couple of very nice kisses. No pornography, no sex . . . maybe a shirtless man.
Anyway, people walked out in droves saying the play was pro-gay (which if you know the story is hysterical – as the two gay men die in HORRIFIC ways, one is beheaded and one dies with a hot poker shoved up his bum.) It was hard to watch as a gay man, harder to deal with audience complaints.
But, what really became hard was watching the show over and over, and having it wear me down. (Earlier in my career I had to work on a play about unemployment, which in this business, is a little too close to home). Edward II is not a happy play – and it sometimes gets to you.
But, at the end of the day, at 11:00p, it was over. And I moved on my life.
Material can be offensive, but it can start a dialogue – and I would hate to miss out on that dialogue, regardless of my personal beliefs.
It’s not material I will avoid, it’s people – directors, actors, producers, general managers, organizations. Material comes and goes.a