London’s Old Vic CANCELS Monty Python Member, Director Gilliam Rises Above The Woke

P. Gardner Goldsmith | December 17, 2021

Continuing the legacy of the Pythons and his own thoughtful work, writer, director, animator, actor Terry Gilliam has risen above the censorious wokeness of London’s Old Vic Theatre, after theatre heads last month announced that they were canceling his production of Stephen Sondheim's fairytale musical Into The Woods, scheduled to go live there next year.

The decision by the Old Stick – er, VIC – appears to have come in response to the terrible, globe-ending, bigoted, and insensitive suggestion Gilliam offered to fans on Facebook to… (sit down for the shock…)

Watch Dave Chappel's recent hit stand-up comedy special, "The CLOSER!"

Apologies to the tender, doe-eyed Karens out there who just had to change their diapers -- again. Just seeing those words might have been more horrifying to them than thinking about Scotland’s Count Dankula training his dog to spoof Hitler.

 

gasp

 

As Yahoo’s Albertina Lloyd reports, Gilliam offered more to his FB page members after the Old Vic announcement:

My unspeakable crime was recommending my Facebook followers to watch a Netflix special by a brilliant and provocative American comedian, and then share with me their opinions. They did and civilisation did not collapse! However, The Old Vic's artistic credibility certainly has.

And he added:

Freedom of Speech is often attacked, but I never imagined that Freedom of Recommendation would be under threat as well.

Gilliam also addressed the phenomenon that appears to be typical when observing censorious collectivism: the collectivists gaslit those who defended freedom, depicting the defenders as the attackers.

"It is very sad that a great cultural institution like The Old Vic allowed itself to be intimidated into cancelling our production of Into The Woods by a small group of closed-minded, humour-averse ideologues on their staff, who absurdly, call themselves 'The Old Vic 12'...as if they are the victims of some cruel injustice desperately fighting for their freedom!”

And not only is Mr. Gilliam not allowing the censors to get away with their attempt to portray themselves as heroic for their childish negativity towards him, towards Chappel, and towards the concept of simple CONVERSATION, he is marching on, undaunted, to the ancient city of Bath, where, as the saying goes, “the show will go on.”

I want to let you know that our production of Into The Woods has found a beautiful and welcoming new home, the Theatre Royal in Bath. The show will open 19 August 2022.

So it seems as if the city named after the healing waters of its ancient spa -- the place where royals used to vacation -- can, once more, be an oasis for the catharsis of laughter. And perhaps other open-minded performers will attend. After all, not only has Gilliam already swatted cancel-culture, his comedy-troupe mate, writer, producer, actor John Cleese has offered sage words in favor of free speech and the simple joys of humor, satire, and open debate. They have been joined by well-known writer, comedian, and actor Rowan Atkinson, and writer, actor, producer Ricky Gervais.

Adds Lloyd:

Gilliam posted on social media during the backlash: ‘I'm encouraging all of you to watch Dave Chappelle's new show, The Closer, on Netflix. To me, he's the greatest stand-up comedian alive today: incredibly intelligent, socially aware, dangerously provocative, and gut-wrenchingly funny. There is a storm brewing over Netflix's support for the show. I'd love to hear your opinions.’

But, of course, that, too, is verboten in the one-size-fits-all speech and thought policing world of the woke. Like the Karens obsessed with the absurd rules of COVID lockdowns, the woke speech police must have the world sanitized of anything that does not fit the collectivist, cultural Marxist orthodoxy.

Which means that their world of communication will become ever-smaller, ever dimmer, imploding like a black hole, pulling the media outlets – including the Old Vic – towards the event horizon.

Perhaps those involved in this cultural self-immolation will wake up – in a different sense of the word – and retreat from their self-righteous blandishments in favor of silence.

Until they do, the rest of us will enjoy each other’s company, and watch as, like Terry Gilliam’s production of Into The Woods, our vibrant culture marches on.

 

Related: Verboten! John Cleese ‘Blacklists’ Himself to Protest Woke Intolerance | MRCTV