Wit, Novelty and Convention

My apologies in advance if this post seems incoherent - I am trying to sort something out by writing it down.
Last week I saw a performance of a play which is apparently considered intelligent and challenging by the arts establishment. I am afraid I found it boring, clichéd and loathsome. One reason for my reaction was the monotonous pace and the fact that only a couple of the characters seemed to me to be more than plastic stereotypes. That is just an issue of style, but what I found more offensive was that the play attempted to challenge every assumption of society. To quote the programme notes: "the play's questioning of hetero-normative and patriarchal constructs still holds a powerful resonance today."

Of course it is healthy to keep an open and questioning mind, but what struck me about this play is that it found no good at all in the conventions on which our society is based. In its search for wit and invention, it showed only contempt for traditions. The characters were either troubled because they held on to traditions that were failing, or they were troubled because they did not fit into these conventions, so everyone was troubled and there was no hope.

These ideas have spread out from the backwater of theatre into popular culture. For example if there is a straight, conventional man appearing in a TV commercial, he is invariably shown to be an uncultured fool and the butt of jokes.

Perhaps I am overstating this issue, but I fear I am not. For some reason, it struck me that civilisation is being challenged here. One piece of evidence for this is that in the play I saw, there was only contempt for Christ and Christianity. The foundations of society were being attacked from within, and I wonder where this will lead.

As I said, these are very incomplete thoughts and no doubt I am by nature a traditionalist, but it only made me feel an obligation to stand up for what holds society together now and for centuries past. Attacking this for no reason is not wit and it is not funny. At its worst, it can be evil.