A three-week festival exploring trigger warnings launches this week at the Camden People’s Theatre.

The recent rise in the use of trigger warnings in theatre has led to criticism of the younger generation for being too sensitive.

Trigger warnings, or content notices are posted in the foyer of a theatre or on a ticket website to notify audience members of potentially upsetting scenes.

Critics say they ruin the plot of the show and brand them a product of the “snowflake generation”: younger people who they believe are too quick to take offence.

But the Handle With Care festival at the Camden People’s Theatre attempts to use trigger warnings to explore whether younger people really are so delicate.

The theatre’s artistic director Brian Logan thinks the festival gives young people a much-needed voice in the debate.

He said: “One reads a lot in the mainstream media about how awful the snowflake generation is… but one seldom hears from that generation itself and how it feels about being characterised in that way.”

Brian says festival-goers should expect “some certainties complicated and some confusions clarified” when it comes to the snowflake generation.

Jack Britton’s play Mighty shows at the theatre this evening. He uses the unusual theme of heightism to plot how appreciating offence can help us better understand self esteem and mental health. In the show, he says “I paint my life as comically tragic and then towards the latter part of the show it becomes more genuinely tragic.”

In the entrance to the Camden People’s Theatre is a board displaying health warnings and content to consider in the evening’s productions.

Other theatres keep their warnings more hidden and request audience members ask staff if they want to be warned about a show.

Brian Logan says when it comes to trigger warnings the debate is still ongoing: “There’s a delicate balance… we make sure that nobody’s going to have anything spoilt and we give audiences the option to ask for more information if they want it.”

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HeadlineNew London theatre festival explores trigger warning debate

Short HeadlineTheatre festival explores trigger warning debate

StandfirstThe Camden People's Theatre hosts three weeks of events to ask whether millennials are too quick to take offence.

A three week festival exploring trigger warnings launches this week at the Camden People’s Theatre.

The recent rise in the use of trigger warnings in theatre has led to criticism of the younger generation for being too sensitive.

Trigger warnings, or content notices are posted in the foyer of a theatre or on a ticket website to notify audience members of potentially upsetting scenes.

Critics say they ruin the plot of the show and brand them a product of the ‘snowflake generation’: younger people who they believe are too quick to take offence.

But the Handle With Care festival at the Camden People’s Theatre attempts to use trigger warnings to explore whether younger people really are so delicate.

The theatre’s artistic director Brian Logan thinks the festival gives young people a much-needed voice in the debate. He said: “One reads a lot in the mainstream media about how awful the snowflake generation is… but one seldom hears from that generation itself and how it feels about being characterised in that way.”

Brian says festival-goers should expect “some certainties complicated and some confusions clarified” when it comes to the snowflake generation.

In the entrance to the Camden People’s Theatre is a board displaying health warnings and content to consider in the evening’s productions. Other theatres keep their warnings more hidden and request audience members ask staff if they want to be warned about a show. Brian Logan says when it comes to trigger warnings the debate is still ongoing: “there’s a delicate balance… we make sure that nobody’s going to have anything spoilt and we give audiences the option to ask for more information if they want it.”