Judi Dench slams trigger warnings as ‘mollycoddling’

Dame Judi Dench thinks trigger warnings are “mollycoddling” audiences.

The 91-year-old actress believes theatres have gone “too far” with the content advisories issued before productions and insisted the best ones are those which push viewers out of their comfort zones.

Speaking to Brendan O’Hea for her memoir Is It Too Late To Make A Run for It?, she said in an extract published by The Times magazine: “They have gone too far. It’s mollycoddling. If you’re that sensitive, don’t go to the theatre.

“By all means keep the warnings about strobe lighting and gunshots, and obviously there should be age limits for children, but that’s about it.

“Otherwise, where will it end? The trigger warnings before Titus Andronicus would be longer than the play.

“And if you overdo the warnings, doesn’t it take away from the audience’s enjoyment of the story?

“Do you tell them that the butler did it in an Agatha Christie play so as not to shock them?

“Besides, in the safety of a theatre or cinema, I want to be triggered, excited, stimulated, provoked and disturbed, to be taken out of my comfort zone. Isn’t that what makes theatre and films so thrilling?”

The Skyfall actress questioned just where trigger warnings should stop.

“And who knows what might trigger people? Balloons, clowns, buttons … I have a friend who doesn’t like bananas. She feels physically sick every time she sees one. Should supermarkets put up warning signs in the fruit and veg aisle? It drives me wild,” she said.

And the Oscar-winning actress “loathes” being called a national treasure.

“It makes me sound like a dusty old relic that’s been stuffed away in the back of the cupboard, along with some dinosaur fossils and a broken Roman shield,” she said.