Parents Furious After Young Children Forced To Learn Sexist Play, Script Portrays Characters Looking For ‘Nooky’ and ‘Tasty Girls’
Parents of students at the Warriner School in Bloxham, Oxfordshire, are furious after finding out that their children have been required to learn and perform the play Too Much Punch For Judy. The play features controversial and sexist lines such as, ‘How do you like your eggs in the morning? Fertilized?”, as well as portraying the characters looking for “nooky” and “tasty girls.” Parents are dismayed that the play was assigned to their middle graders, that hover around the age of 12 years.
The play was written by Mark Wheeler nearly 25-years-ago. Wheeler was a former drama tutor at the school and wrote the powerful piece based on a real life story of a girl that died in a car crash. The story was originally meant to be performed by 16-year-olds and was not intended for young children of 12-years-old, according to Metro U.K.
The play follows the last night in 25-year-old Joanna Poulton’s life in Essex prior to dying in a car accident after her sister hit a bridge. The two girls meet up with two boys, called Bob and Nob in the play. The boys attempt to pick up the girls with rude and obscene lines that go beyond explicit at times.
Parents, such as Jo Bucknell, were shocked and furious when they discovered the play was assigned to their children. Bucknell approached the school about the matter and withdrew her son, Ethan, from the drama class until the play was removed from the curriculum, according to the Daily Mail.
“You try to raise your children in the right way and this just blows it all out of the water. They just cannot seem to get that this is inappropriate for a child of Ethan’s age.”
However, some parents, such as Geoffery Newman, claim the play has a strong message that young kids should learn.
“It’s got a serious message and the chat-up lines are more something from a Carry-On film. Its harmless fun really.”
The assignment has caught the attention of local rape charities as well, claiming the dialogue portrays the boys as attempting to coerce the young girls into sex, even against their will. However, the school’s head teacher, Dr. Annabel Kay, shared that she sees no issue with the content or the age group it was assigned to, claiming it is meant to raise awareness on the subject matter. She also stated that the children in the school have all been advanced up a term, placing each child a grade ahead of where they previously were, resulting in the young children being placed in the proper grade level for the play.
“The play is aimed at Key Stage Three and Key Stage Four children and we check across all the schools nationally to see if they perform this play and they do.”
Mark Wheeler, the creator of the play, shares the story behind “Too Much Punch For Judy.”
[Photo Courtesy: Metro U.K.]
