Maybe he was that good of an actor? I remember reading that Jack Gleeson got death threats because his character, Joffrey, was just so hateable in Game of Thrones.

Koležnik said her intention with the production had not been to make “liberal, petit bourgeois society in Europe feel good” around a consensus of condemning intolerance, but to leave them scared. “The next wave of fascism, there will not be monsters. There will be normal, nice people,” she said.

But that’s one of the oft overlooked aspects of fascism: it is done by the normal, nice people. It’s done by people who are crushed, hurt, afraid, and trying to survive. They’re told they can be powerful and hurt those hurting them. They’re given the go-ahead to pick an “other” to attack. They’re given a feeling of control by a uniform and a stick. A little power. Nothing real, just enough to attack a neighbor who is new or different in some way. It doesn’t matter who the fascist leaders pick, they’ll just go after whomever is convenient in the moment and it turns at least some of us against each other.

The rank and file of the SS were normal shopkeepers, workers, and common people who wanted to end the pain caused by dictatorship, rulers, and wealth hoarding in the world. The very people hoarding the wealth and causing the pain turn it into fascism to build their own power by turning the common people against each other.

For people curious about the play, the original cast/company does often international performances, it’s the biggest Portuguese theater success in decades. They’ll be in September at the National Theater in London.

I would expect this from the people we are voting against, but not from the people who should be on our side.

That got me thinking, what demographic actually goes to live theatre events these days? I doubt there are a lot of young people, though.

Sometimes your tolerance for hearing something becomes saturated. When this occurs, it no longer matters what context you might be hearing it in again, you will dislike hearing it regardless of the context.

Not to excuse the audience or anything, they should know better. They could have just walked out if they were unhappy. It’s a little disingenuous to call their reaction stupidity though, I’m pretty sure they do recognize fiction from reality. They probably just weren’t willing to hear that speech, delivered in a fictional or any other context.

Personally I’ve encountered this with film before. The movie Django Unchained had enough casual, laid back racism in its plot and dialogue, that I just got fed up and quit watching. I wasn’t enjoying myself, so what’s the point? It’s almost worse when it’s casual too, I’d rather watch something like Schindler’s List where it gets more gravity.