To help our audience make informed choices about the productions in the Syrena Theatre’s repertoire, we have prepared information about themes that may cause discomfort for some viewers or bring back memories connected to difficult past events (so-called trigger warnings).
The content warnings present in the Syrena Theatre’s productions were developed by Zuzanna Żmijewska from the psychiatric and psychological clinic, Centrum Terapii Dialog w Warszawie.
What are trigger warnings and why do we use them?
Theatre and art serve, among other things, to evoke emotions, provoke reflection, and push boundaries. Each member of the audience comes to the theatre with their own story and has the right to decide which themes they do not wish to confront.
To help our audience make an informed choice of the performance that is right for them, we have included labels with each title indicating which themes are present in the play. What are these labels?
We encounter them every day in descriptions of films, series, books, and other cultural works. In English, they are known as trigger warnings – that is, warnings about content that may cause discomfort for some viewers or bring back difficult memories.
Before choosing a performance, we encourage you to carefully read the labels. If any of the themes feel too difficult for you at the moment or might cause discomfort, we recommend considering another performance from our repertoire.
Warnings for shows
- “Battle for the Throne”: Alcohol, Audience interaction, Sensitive ideological issues, Religion, Sexuality, Death, War, Profanity
- “Beetlejuice”: Sensitive ideological issues, Suicide, Sexuality, Death, Profanity, Grief, Religion, Illness
- “Heathers”: Alcohol, Discrimination, Nudity, Domestic violence, Physical violence, Psychological abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Sex, Sexuality, Death, Profanity, Murder
- “Kajko and Kokosz. A Flying School”: Physical violence, Audience interaction
- “Matilda”: Audience interaction, Domestic violence, Physical violence, Psychological abuse
- “Next to normal”: Illness, Drugs, Suicide, Profaniu, Child’s death, Mental health issues
- “On Drugs”: Drugs, Suicide, Sex, Death, Addiction, Drug addiction, Profanity, Audience interaction
- “SIX”: Audience interaction, Sexuality, Death, Miscarriage, Sexual violence
- “Starzyński”: Alcohol, Cigarettes, Suicide, Sexuality, Death, War, Murder
- “Wypiór”: Sensitive ideological issues, Sex, Sexuality, Profanities
List and description of warnings
- Abortion – the performance contains themes referring to abortion
- Addiction – the performance depicts symptoms of addiction or includes characters’ conversations about addictions
- Alcohol – the performance includes scenes depicting alcohol consumption or characters’ conversations on this subject
- Audience interaction – during the performance, actors directly interact with the audience
- Cigarettes – the performance includes scenes where characters smoke cigarettes or otherwise use nicotine
- Death – the performance includes a scene depicting a character’s death or conversations about death
- Discrimination – the performance includes scenes concerning discrimination or content referring to stereotypes about different social groups
- Domestic violence – the performance includes scenes depicting or referring to domestic violence
- Drugs – the performance includes scenes referring to drug use or characters’ conversations on this subject
- Eating disorders – the performance depicts symptoms of eating disorders or includes characters’ conversations about them
- Gambling – the performance contains themes related to gambling and games of chance
- Grief – the performance includes the theme of grief
- Illness – the performance contains themes related to chronic or terminal illness
- Miscarriage – the performance contains themes referring to miscarriage
- Murder – the performance includes a murder scene or characters’ conversations about this subject
- Nudity – the performance contains scenes of nudity
- Physical violence – the performance includes scenes depicting or referring to physical violence
- Profanity – the performance contains language commonly regarded as vulgar
- Psychological abuse – the performance includes scenes depicting or referring to psychological abuse
- Religion – the performance contains references to religion
- Sensitive ideological issues – the performance contains references to worldview issues, e.g., politics, climate, or attitudes toward religion
- Self-harm – the performance contains themes related to self-harm
- Sex – the performance includes scenes depicting sexual activity or erotic references
- Sexual violence – the performance includes scenes depicting or referring to sexual violence
- Sexuality – the performance contains references to sexuality, including e.g. sexual orientation
- Suicide – the performance contains themes related to suicide
- Violence against animals – the performance includes scenes depicting or referring to violence against animals
- War – the performance includes scenes referring to war or characters’ conversations about war and wartime experiences
The warning system for the Syrena Theatre was developed by Centrum Terapii Dialog.
