At last, a trigger warning we can all get behind
At last, a trigger warning we can all get behind
Michael DeaconThu, November 5, 2026 at 7:00 AM UTC
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Audiences of a musical about Scottish culture are being warned about the inclusion of loud bagpipes - iStockphoto
In the past, I may have given the impression that I find trigger warnings on books and plays to be just a tiny bit silly. Take, for example, the time that the University of the West of England warned students that Shakespeare’s The Tempest features “extreme weather”. And the time the University of Aberdeen warned students that Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Kidnapped “contains depictions of kidnapping”.
This week, we learnt that a new musical about the life of Anne Boleyn has a trigger warning for “execution by beheading”. Honestly. What a dreadful spoiler. Hardly seems any point going now they’ve given away the ending.
Even so, perhaps it’s time that I learnt to be more open-minded about this peculiar modern phenomenon. Because, at long last, I’ve come across a trigger warning for which I’m profoundly grateful.
Currently being staged at Shoreditch Town Hall in London, Ceilidh: The Musical is a new production that has been hailed by critics as “a joyous, riotous celebration of Scottish culture”. Prospective audiences, however, are warned that one aspect of the show may cause some people distress.
Ceilidh: The Musical is currently being staged at Shoreditch Town Hall in London - Luke Dyson
In short: it contains bagpipes.
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Specifically, I believe it’s the loudness of the bagpipes that we’re being warned about. But frankly, I’m sure I speak for all right-thinking people when I say there is no volume at which the sound of bagpipes is ever acceptable. In any case, is it even possible to play the bagpipes quietly? I’ve certainly never heard anyone manage it. I grew up in Scotland, and during my childhood I was subjected to this form of musical waterboarding on countless occasions. Every single time, it sounded like someone garrotting a tomcat with barbed wire.
To the producers of Ceilidh: The Musical, therefore, I offer my most heartfelt thanks for so thoughtfully alerting me to the peril in store. Admittedly, this has ensured that I won’t be buying tickets. But that just makes me admire the producers all the more. How selfless of them to prioritise my sanity over their takings.
In the interests of balance, though, I should acknowledge that bagpipes do sometimes have their uses. In October 2021, a Scottish motorist was annoyed to find his journey delayed by a group of climate activists who had glued themselves to the road. So, in order to disperse these preening peabrains, he climbed out of his car, marched up to them – and, to their understandable alarm, started playing the bagpipes in their faces.
How I wish I’d been there. That’s one occasion when the sound of bagpipes would have been music to my ears.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
