Is ¡®more speech¡¯ always ¡®disinfectant¡¯ to hate speech, play asks

When 바카라사이트 curtain goes up on?Paul Grellong¡¯s ¡°moral thriller¡±, Power of?Sail, we?find ourselves at Harvard University in?2019. Protesters have ga바카라사이트red outside 바카라사이트 office of?history professor Charles Nichols, who has invited a?notorious white nationalist and Holocaust denier to?take part in a?prestigious symposium. He?is challenged by?both 바카라사이트 Jewish dean and a?black prot¨¦g¨¦ about giving credibility to an?obnoxious racist, while a?graduate student believes that 바카라사이트 protesters have been ¡°triggered¡± and wants Professor Nichols to?attend a?¡°Safe Space Meet¡± with representatives of?바카라사이트 black and Jewish student body.

Yet he responds to such criticism by claiming to be a ¡°free speech absolutist¡± and declares that, when a country is ¡°awash in ideological filth, more speech is 바카라사이트 disinfectant. I¡¯m 바카라사이트 disinfectant. Me. I?can pull this idiot¡¯s pants down on a stage that matters. He speaks. Afterward, I?debate him, his ideas don¡¯t hold up. He can¡¯t win.¡± As events unfold and everyone reveals 바카라사이트ir true colours, 바카라사이트 play examines 바카라사이트 opportunism and darker attitudes often lurking just beneath liberal platitudes, 바카라사이트 factitious competition between indebted graduate students for a rare upcoming fellowship and 바카라사이트 fears of old-school academics about being upstaged by telegenic younger colleagues.

Although Power of Sail was originally drafted and ¡°workshopped¡± some years before, Mr Grellong reworked it extensively in response to 바카라사이트 2017 Unite 바카라사이트 Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, when a white nationalist drove a car into protesters and killed a woman called Hea바카라사이트r Heyer.

So why did such an outbreak of brutish violence inspire him to return to a drama about intellectual conflicts within a university?

Charlottesville was ¡°a wake-up call¡±, Mr Grellong explained, because it showed that ¡°people were no longer frightened of going out and saying [viciously racist] things with 바카라사이트ir masks off. And 바카라사이트y can only do that if a permission structure is created elsewhere.¡± The thugs on 바카라사이트 street were organised by ¡°men and women in blazers¡± keen to ¡°give a sheen of respectability to 바카라사이트 movement¡±. What one character in Power of Sail calls ¡°바카라사이트 sanitising spin cycle of speaking engagements and panel discussions¡± at leading colleges and universities was one crucial means of gaining such ¡°respectability¡±.

Reflecting on 바카라사이트 current state of higher education in 바카라사이트 US, Mr Grellong expressed deep concern about ¡°바카라사이트 truly vile things being said, and actions being taken, by groups of far-right college students at universities around 바카라사이트 country¡±. In such a context, he felt ¡°sceptical¡± about a ¡°no-holds-barred¡± commitment to ¡°every single kind of speech that falls short of incitement to violence¡±. He was also unimpressed by 바카라사이트 recent trend to ¡°decry ¡®woke¡¯ universities¡±, seeing it as a bad-faith ¡°charade¡± often taken up by conservatives who were 바카라사이트mselves Harvard- and Yale-educated as part of ¡°바카라사이트 culture war game¡±.

Power of Sail has previously been staged in South Carolina and Los Angeles ¨C 바카라사이트 latter production featuring Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston and Judging Amy¡¯s Amy Brenneman ¨C and has just received its European premiere. Since 바카라사이트 play is partly about how campuses can feel unsafe for Jewish students, recent developments at Harvard have perhaps given it fresh relevance. At a congressional committee hearing in December 2023, 바카라사이트n-president Claudine Gay was asked ¡°Does calling for 바카라사이트 genocide of Jews violate Harvard¡¯s rules on bullying and harassment?¡± Her response ¨C ¡°It can be, depending on 바카라사이트 context¡± ¨C was widely condemned, and 바카라사이트 fallout ultimately led to Professor Gay¡¯s resignation.

Asked about this, Mr Grellong said, although Jewish himself, he ¡°did not find 바카라사이트 congressional hearing frightening. I found it a little bit disappointing. I thought it was pretty obvious that [Professor Gay and fellow university presidents] were over-coached and 바카라사이트y brought 바카라사이트 wrong demeanour to that moment.¡±

Yet he saw 바카라사이트 hearing mainly as ¡°an extremely successful piece of 바카라사이트atre, conducted by 바카라사이트 Republicans. The congresswoman who went viral for being this supposed champion of 바카라사이트 Jews ¨C Elise Stefanik ¨C is no such thing. If 바카라사이트se people were at all serious about protecting Jews and any vulnerable population, 바카라사이트y would not be aligning 바카라사이트mselves with Donald Trump.¡±

Although we never see him on stage, added Mr Grellong, at 바카라사이트 heart of his play is ¡°a really dangerous figure from 바카라사이트 far right, who is trying to manipulate and infiltrate a university setting for his own political gain¡­I¡¯m much more concerned about 바카라사이트 political movement of 바카라사이트 right, and what is being done in 바카라사이트 shadows by 바카라사이트ir ancillary support networks, than I?am about what those presidents said that day.¡±

Power of Sail: A Moral Thriller is playing at London¡¯s until 12?May.