School apologises for staging Hitler play where students performed Nazi salutes
A school has apologised after it staged a play about Adolf Hitler, during which students performed Nazi salutes.
Actor Pip Utton, who played the role of Hitler in the controversial one-man play at Somerset’s Millfield School, defended the play and told the JC that he “manipulated” the students in attendance to into performing the salute.
“I told them we should thank the technicians because they rarely receive recognition. I said I wanted them to perform a special show of gratitude by raising their right arms in the air, then bring their hand down to clap their knee.
“As their hands went up I told them, ‘it seemed to work in Berlin’. I was in no way attempting to glorify that horrible, horrible salute.
“The point was to show how people can be manipulated and how easy it is. Believe me, it is shocking for me to see it happen. They got the fact that it was kind of a joke because they were laughing about it.”
Further upset was reportedly caused by the fact that the play was staged mere hours before Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Hebrew calendar.
Mr Utton said that, had he known, he would have asked the school to reschedule the play, which he has been performing across the country for over 25 years.
The father of a Jewish student in attendance said of the play: “It made me feel sick. What on earth were the teachers thinking? It would not be appropriate to give this kind of play the green light for school children at any time, least of all on the eve of Yom Kippur.
“The school must have known of the content and if not, it should have. There is no excuse for this disgraceful error of judgment.”
Millfield School Head Gavin Horgan has said that the students should not have been encouraged to “role play such actions”, stating: “We should not have staged this play. We are sorry for the hurt that has been caused and we have changed our approach to vetting performances so that this will never happen again.”
However, Mr Utton took issue with the school’s apology, branding it “spineless”.
Speaking to Times Radio, he said that he would be “sending the Head an e-mail and say that I think his reaction is unwarranted and completely spinless,” adding: “I don’t want to perform at the school again.”
He also revealed that this was not the first time that the play had received complaints, but questioned: “If [people] don’t understand [the play], should I apologise for them not being either intelligent or perceptive enough to understand?”
