'You just don't come': Doran infuriated by warnings for gore-fests like Titus Andronicus

It is a play renowned for its extreme violence, with scenes featuring execution, rape and mutilation. Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus even culminates with its eponymous Roman general feeding Tamora, the queen of the Goths, her sons “baked in a pie” before slaughtering her.

- Nadia Khomami 

But the play – and others like it – should not carry trigger warnings, according to the former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, who has declared that he “hates them”.

Speaking with students in a Q&A after a keynote lecture on the play, Gregory Doran said anxious audience members should simply avoid plays so they would not be upset by distressing content , the Stage reported .

“How do you do [content warnings] for Titus Andronicus?” Doran said . “You just don’t come. Don’t come if you are worried . If you are anxious – stay away.”

Doran’s lecture at London South Bank University celebrated 30 years since the RSC’s production of Titus Andronicus at Johannesburg’s Market theatre, which went on to run at London’s National . Doran directed that production with his partner, Antony Sher , who later became his husband, and died in 2021.