Jerry Springer The Opera at Norwich Theatre Royal 8th May

The odd goat might help as well.....

Perhaps a few t-shirts are in order Tug.

Something like 'Jerry Springer-more popular than Jesus'

or

'Jesus had my mother over the kitchen table while smoking crack....now she's got a pox that would make Moses blush'

might be in order.

Jerry Springer walks on water?

or No wonder your churches are empty!

A plague on all bigots houses!

While you're here moaning your church is burning down!

Or, more simply, we could stir that age old barrel and imply they don't like Jerry Springer cos he's a Jew....

The abortion clinic is that way....

Sssshhh.....let poeple think my wit is ever-present and nothing at all to do with red wine

Were there any BNP there?

I have seen a leaflet BNP members have been leaving in churches (!) in east Anglia, denouncing the appointment of the Archbishop of York, and this is an area they are trying to work in.

Well that was fun! Bit shocked to see loads of the people from the church opposite my house there as part of Christian Voice though, dodgy fuckers. Ergh, if I listen hard enough, I can hear them singing right now....

I've done a leaflet for the next one, I'm putting Now or Never!'s name to it, if it's cool I'll stick Norwich Anarchists and Great Commotion on there too - if anyone has a problem with that let me know.

SUPPORT FREE SPEECH - SUPPORT THE THEATRE ROYAL

We are here to support The Theatre Royal's decision to show "Jerry Springer - The Opera". Not on any artistic merit - some of us have seen it and loved it, others have seen it and thought it was offensive rubbish, some of us simply haven't seen it at all - this is irrelevent. We believe that freedom of speech means just that, and that in a secular society such as Britian, religion should play no part in dictating what we can and cannot see for entertainment. Much like the recent controversy surrounding the infamous Mohammed cartoons, the minority that is the religious right is attempting to dictate to the majority what is acceptable - in the 21st century this cannot be tolerated! We fully support the right of Christians to protest outside theatres showing "Jerry Springer....", however their attempts to stop it being shown at all for the moral good of the nation are both dangerous and ignorant, and some of the tactics they have used have been rooted in intimidation. Extremist group "Christian Voice" threatened to picket the offices and care centres of Scottish cancer charity Maggies Centers if they accepted money that had been raised for them at a showing of the production. Christian Voice have been the main force behind the protests, much to the distress of more tolerant and moderate Christian groups. This openly right wing evangelical group promote the persecution of homosexuals, compare abortion to the holocaust and call for the repression of the rights of followers of other faiths. When the BBC broadcast the show, the group published the home addresses and phone numbers of some of their workers, leading to death threats to them and their families. One family recieved threatening phone calls whilst obseving a 3 minute silence for the victims of the Tsunami. 9 out of the 21 theatres that were going to take part in the current tour have pulled out following pressure from Christian Voice - we applaud The Theatre Royals decision to stand up to these bigots and are proud to have them as our local theatre.

The contoversy surrounding "Jerry Springer.... " is reminiscent of the scandal that surrounded the 1970's film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". As on that occassion, Christian protesters completely miss the point the writers are trying to make - just as "Monty Python..." was an attack on false Messiahs and unquestioning worship, so "Jerry Springer...." is a satire of the media and modern society, not simply an attack on the Christian faith.

Christian fundamentalists argue that the show is offensive because it portrays "sexual deviancy". In this day and age, it is astounding that there are still those who are so judgemental about the lifestyle choices of others! We are here to show our disgust at the repression and hatred that the church has and still does have towards sex and sexuality, especially towards women and homosexuals. The main bone of contention seems to be that Jesus is portrayed as gay - we say, so what?! Why is this such an offensive idea to some? Again, the church's archaic and hateful true nature rears its ugly head.

Of course we understand that some of the scenes in "Jerry Springer..." are offensive to some Christians, and that some may find them upsetting or distastefull. There is a simple solution to that - don't go and see the show! Believe it or not, we do live in a demcracy, and one of the conflicts with doing so is we all have to be tolerant of things we don't like or understand. If we are to continue to live in a free country, then the recent rise of the religious right must be stamped down - more and more of our freedoms are being curtalied every day, let's not allow our right to question the authority of the church be one of them.

I only have one issue with handing leaflets out at this event.

The majority of people are going to a show....and likely couldn't give a monkeys whether they recieve a pro or anti leaflet, they're just going out for the night.

Personally I'd have thought simply keeping them entertained by baiting the 'sandals'would be more than enough of an accomplishment.

God told me.....

Thought it was a great demo last night, those Christian Voice folk are a dodgy bunch of fuckers mind. There was definately one BNP supporter with them and considering their biggoted views it wouldn't surprise me if others were involved in the BNP.

So is everyone up for a rematch Saturday? Someone high up in CV is appearing - it'd be great to have another good turnout to oppose these fucks. Shall we meet at the Chapelfield bandstand at 6:45pm?

I like your leaflet Stinker, good stuff.

Abso-fucking-lutely!

Shit - that's a bit of a pisser. On this occaision I think we should postpone the meeting 'til after the demo. Perhaps we can send someone with a bike down to Micawbers at around 7:15pm to check whether anyone's come along. We'll just have to keep the meeting super short - perhaps we should try to focus on Bookfair stuff unless there's other stuff folk think is really important to discuss.

Did you read the lyrics? Sheer fucking perfection...can't wait to see their faces when we blare that over Kum-ba-fucking-ya...

I've had mi guitar out, mp3 on, lyric sheet infront of me having a solo sing song.

What a buch of cocks then. If their view of people is influenced by whether or not they've had a shave (I assume this aplies to men only, or do some of us ladies need to take a gillette to our legs lest we offend?) they can kiss my stinky, hairy cunt.

WElcome to the boards moniter