Delusions of safeguarding: Homegrown and Islamic State on the UK stage

This chapter discusses theatrical representations of the so-called Islamic State during the mid 2010s, when the group were conducting and inspiring terror attacks around Europe. During these years, public anxieties around Islamic State sometimes led to the censorship of such representations. A high-profile example was Homegrown, a site-specific play developed by members of the National Youth Theatre, which was cancelled two weeks before it was due to open. This chapter uses the example of Homegrown to argue that censorship in the name of safeguarding does not stop the spread or impact of dangerous material, that such censorship may in fact risk further harm to the very people that it claims to protect.