Ralph Fiennes has called for trigger warnings, which let audiences know if there is upsetting content, to be scrapped saying people should be 鈥渟hocked and disturbed鈥 by theatre.
The 61-year-old British actor, known for period drama The English Patient, holocaust film Schindler鈥檚 List and comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel, is starring in an immersive touring production of William Shakespeare鈥檚 Macbeth.
鈥淏ut I think the impact of theatre should be that you鈥檙e shocked and you should be disturbed. I don鈥檛 think you should be prepared for these things and when I was young, (we) never had trigger warnings for shows.鈥
The two-time Oscar nominated actor, who won a Tony award for best actor in a US production of Shakespeare鈥檚 Hamlet in 1995, agreed that it should be 鈥済ot rid鈥 of and said that physical warnings for issues such as strobe effects should still be flagged.
鈥淪hakespeare鈥檚 plays are full of murderers, full of horror … It鈥檚 the shock, the unexpected, that鈥檚 what makes an actor (in) theatre so exciting,鈥 Fiennes also said.
British actor Simon Callow has previously called for getting rid of trigger warnings in a letter to The Times newspaper after it emerged a theatre had told audiences that The Sound Of Music touched on 鈥渢he threat of Nazi Germany and the annexation of Austria鈥.
Known for romantic films A Room With A View and Four Weddings And A Funeral, the 74-year-old said that theatre is 鈥渁 safe space鈥 and 鈥渘ot a pulpit, but a gymnasium of the imagination鈥.
Fiennes also called ticket prices 鈥渨orryingly high at the moment, particularly in the West End鈥 when asked about London鈥檚 Savoy Theatre having reportedly 拢300 ticket prices for Plaza Suite starring husband and wife actors Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker as a couple in the comedy.
鈥淚 have to confess I was invited to the opening night (for Plaza Suite) and I got a freebie,鈥 he also said. 鈥淚t was very good. Yeah, they are brilliant, brilliant, brilliant comic performances.鈥
Fiennes maintained that prices can come down as he said his production of Macbeth 鈥 which has upcoming dates in London and Washington 鈥 has 鈥20% of our tickets across the board鈥 at the 拢15 to 拢20 mark and 50% are around 拢50.
鈥淲e believe that this will have a devastating negative impact on local communities, farming, fishing, tourism, when it can be done better, which is offshore hubs,鈥 Fiennes, also known for playing Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films and M in the James Bond series, added.
鈥淭his is a long-term legacy for our country. This is the infrastructure going into the future, it might be more expensive in the short, in the mid-term, we鈥檙e convinced it鈥檚 not. But this is really vital that we get this right.
鈥淎nd the solution, the implementation of this structure is destructive and I鈥檝e been looking, I鈥檝e been excited to look at what the Belgians and the Danes are doing by these offshore infrastructures, which are then ecologically friendly, and they take their cabling onshore to a brownfield site, which is critical.
鈥淭his is a greenfield site proposal.鈥
He said that the proposals had wider implications as building 鈥渘ew clean energy infrastructure is really, really vital鈥 and called the current proposals a 鈥渄isaster鈥.
ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) has previously defended the plans.
SPR said it would help climate change efforts and it is trying to protect 鈥渢he local environment and minimise the potential onshore impacts of the construction programme鈥.
A spokesperson for National Grid said there 鈥渋s no fully offshore solution to connect offshore wind to the grid in any country, and building new network to connect cheaper, cleaner electricity is the only way to bring energy bills down long term鈥.
鈥淥ur role is to future proof the grid for years to come by carefully developing proposals with environmental and biodiversity considerations that represent value for money for all consumers, facilitating the transition to a clean, fair, and affordable energy future,鈥 they added.