Dragon Days

Reply from the Out of the Ark Team

Many thanks for your review. We are so sorry that this was your experience of the script of Dragon Days. It is never our intention to offend anyone and therefore I hope that the scriptwriter’s thoughts below will help to explain the reasoning behind the inclusion of the girls’ roles as they are in the script. Sometimes an author’s intentions and approach can be misinterpreted, so thank you for giving us this opportunity to explain them. Old Ma is based on a Panto Dame-type character, i.e. traditional rather than stereotypical. The part is intended to be played OTT to allow an actor to have fun with it. I accept that not everyone likes this sort of humour, but many people do. Gerda is conscientious (looking after her goats), brave (she follows Tommy up the mountain in order to protect him), non-judgemental (she accepts the Dragon) – all in all the voice of reason in a culture of unthinking prejudice. Therefore, I don’t see her as a negative stereotype. Girls/Boys. These are presented in a deliberately stereotypical way, with the intention of using this extreme representation in an ironic way to highlight how easily we fall into such cultural traps. One would hope that it would provide an opportunity for discussion around these issues. I had hoped that, as these characters sit within a piece whose main theme is the ridiculousness of mindless acceptance of stereotypes and what is fed to us through various media, the intended irony would be seen. There is, of course, a thin line between seeming to approve of something by representing it, and representing it in order to attempt to spotlight its failings. There is a risk of offence being inferred where none is intended. I am sorry if that has been the case here.