Why must we tarnish Agatha Christie's legacy by introducing trigger warnings?

Telegraph

10-03-2025

' Murder on the Orient Express contains: Themes of death, grief and guilt.' 'Reference to, and depictions of, murder and manslaughter.' 'Reference to, and depictions of, weapons.' I could end the column there – on the trigger warning the theatrical producers saw fit to slap on arguably Agatha Christie's most famous work – but where's the fun in that? This is manna from sneer heaven, mockery nirvana. Had they set up a pillory and invited people to pelt them with mud and offal, they couldn't have achieved a better result.
I did, for a second, wonder if the trigger warning featured on the new play's website was tongue in cheek. Whoever signed off on it should certainly use that as an excuse this week, amid the (virtual) offal bombardment. 'It was a send-up, of course!' Only it wasn't. The Ken Ludwig adaptation – which is directed by Lucy Bailey and currently touring the UK – sets out its killingly funny warning right after the age recommendation (12+ parental guidance). 'We don't want to spoil anyone's experience of coming to see Murder on the Orient Express; however, if you would benefit from knowing more about specific content and themes in the play, please click below.'
While we're on content and themes, could anyone help me out with American Psycho? I'm assuming it's suitable for a five-year-old. Oh, and would Johnny Got His Gun be a nice, gentle, date-night watch? As an animal-lover and a vegan, is there anything in Pet Cemetery that I might find upsetting?
Ridiculing an area that's already patently ridiculous is hard, as it turns out. After all, the latest theatrical trigger warnings all sound like spoofs. The Chichester Festival Theatre warned theatregoers that a new production of Three Little Pigs 'has a passing reference to Father Pig being gobbled by the Big Bad Wolf'. The English National Opera recently cautioned audiences attending Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera, The Pirates of Penzance, at the London Coliseum, that 'alcohol misuse and mild violence' would feature. And at the end of last year, audience members at London's Bromley Little Theatre were warned that the adaptation of the author's 1839 novel, Nicholas Nickleby, contained 'Dickensian slurs'.
Like the waiters who are now forced to ask every diner whether they have any allergies, all this is driven not by concern, of course, but fear. And it's not just the infantilising that infuriates, but the sense that personal responsibility is no longer a thing. Shouldn't it be down to the person with the allergy or sensitivity to do their due diligence? If you don't want dead bodies, can I suggest you avoid works by the Queen of Crime? A woman who, according to one count, amassed 128 corpses in her lifetime?
As laughable as slapping a 'hazard label' on a play, book or work of art should be, in theory, trigger warnings have tangibly damaging effects – so much so that they might themselves need trigger warnings. Designed to guard against trauma, they have in fact been shown to galvanise outrage and multiply claims of trauma by Gen Zers, ever eager to be suffering from one psychological disorder or another.
They're obviously deeply, offensively reductive into the bargain. Because while we're focussing on how 'toxic' or not a work is, we're not thinking about anything else: the rave reviews Bailey's Murder on the Orient Express has been getting from audiences and critics alike. The excellent cast includes The Young Victoria's Michael Maloney as the celebrated Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot.
You may remember that Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird was issued a caution for 'mentioning 'murder', mentioning 'rape', use of the 'N-word' and racism' – but I'd like to think the iconic novel amounts to a little more than that. The Great Gatsby 'contains themes of suicide, domestic abuse and graphic violence'. It's also a life-changingly brilliant book, by the way, but let's get back to the reasons why you shouldn't read it, the reasons you should avoid that play or historical documentary featuring awful realities no one should have to confront. The reasons you should opt out of anything remotely challenging in life. Warning: might make you think.
While an increasing number of actors are now speaking up about the dangers of these censorious little stamps masquerading as sensitivity, nobody has put it better than actor Simon Callow, who said they betrayed 'a fundamental failure to grasp what the theatre is: not a model for behaviour but a crucible in which we look at what it is to be human'. Sorry folks, but sometimes that can get a little uncomfortable.