I've been wanting to see Jerry Springer -The Opera, for at least 18 months. I missed it when it was on at the NationalTheatre two summers ago and I've never quite got around to watching it at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End where it's been playing since September 2003. Had I been hipper and trendier I might even have gone to watch the fledgling operetta at the BatterseaArts Centre in February 2002. But tonight I can watch the whole performance on BBC2 from my very own sofa. And, quite frankly, I am appalled and outraged.
Jerry Springer - The Opera is obscene. According to a press release from pressure group Mediawatch the play contains more than 8000 obscenities (including 279 c***s and 3168 f***s). Mediawatch are outraged by this "highly offensive and continuous stream of obscene language ...causing very considerable offence to licence-fee payers". But then Mediawatch are Mary Whitehouse's National Viewers and Listers Association reborn so you'd expect them to be frothing rabidly at almost anything the BBC does. And they can't count properly. Apparently "the total number of obscenities is calculated by multiplying the number of swear-words by the number of people singing them". There are in fact only 11 c***s in Jerry Springer (each sung by a chorus of 27 people), but we'll not let this get in the way of outraged hype. You can hear much worse swearing in any secondary school playground. So I'm not appalled by the swearing.
Jerry Springer - The Opera is blasphemous. Any show featuring Jesus in a nappy is clearly blasphemous, and this seems to have enraged religious groups far more than the swearing. Never mind that the great majority of the 40000complainants haven't actually seen the show, nor that this show has been appearing in the West End for over a year withoutprotest - its appearance on prime time post-watershed television marks the debasement of civilisation and the end of the world as we know it. The BBC promise to give very clear warnings before the show is broadcast tonight, but any churchgoer could accidentally stumble across this profanity by switching channels at one minute past ten (this seems highly likely given that Billy Connolly is on BBC1 at the same time). But I suspect Christianity will survive intact following tonight's operatic Armageddon. So I'm not appalled by the blasphemy.
I am appalled that the BBC is screening a complete West End show before the end of its run. How dare the BBC damage the financial viability of London's theatreland by showing for free what would normally cost a group of four people in excess of the annual licence fee. It's difficult enough getting me to the the theatre at the best of times, but now I can merely wait two years, stay in and wait for these West End jewels to be broadcast on national television. My entire motivation for buying vastly overpriced theatre tickets has evaporated overnight. So, BBC, think again!! (And, er, can you screen Acorn Antiques- The Musical next please).
