Monday, October 16, 2006

The University of Minnesota’s plan to present a production of Dario Fo’s "The Pope and the Witch," which presents the pontiff in, well, a less-than-favorable, drug-addicted state, has attracted Catholic protests. William Donohue asked the University to acknowledge the presentation as offensive, and accused the University of a double standard, suggesting that they wouldn’t stage comparable commentary about Islam. The University has hosted events critical of Islam, but Donohue makes a sure point here.

“Provocative” theatre almost invariably concerns imaginary threats. The Director of the production at Minnesota explained:

“I chose this play because it is political. It takes a stand on issues in the forefront of our daily lives.”

Well, perhaps. In upper-brow modern western cultural output, the “political” threats confronted are almost invariably safe ones – heroin-addicted popes are far more modish targets than heroin-addicted mullahs, however greater a threat the latter (hooked or not) pose to modern society. Knights of Columbus are very infrequent suicide bombers as of late.