‘Trigger warning’ on play about UK’s biggest drinker that it contains references to alcohol… even though it is staged in a pub!

As if it didn’t already appear that woke ‘trigger warnings’ have gone too far, audiences attending a play about one of Britain’s most notorious drunkards are cautioned that it contains references to alcohol.

And the alert seems even more ridiculous given the new production of Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell is being staged inside the London pub where the late writer and raconteur was often seen propping up the bar.

Those attending the show at the Coach & Horses in Soho were sent an email ahead of the performance saying: ‘Trigger warning: The play references smoking, gambling, alcohol, and sex.’

Although many theatre-goers took the message seriously, the play’s star, Robert Bathurst, last night revealed the warning had been tongue-in-cheek, to reflect the humorous spirit of the show.

And Steve Bennett, editor of comedy website Chortle, joked: ‘Thank heavens for the content warning! How else could anyone have possibly known that watching a show about an infamous alcoholic in one of Soho’s most notorious drinking dens might have contained ‘references to alcohol’?

The play’s star, Robert Bathurst, last night revealed the warning had been tongue-in-cheek, to reflect the humorous spirit of the show

The new production of Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell is being staged inside the London pub where the late writer and raconteur was often seen propping up the bar

‘While we’re stating the bleeding obvious, others thinking of going to see Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell should be aware that it also contains references to both Jeffrey Bernard and him being unwell.’

The show’s title refers to the notice The Spectator magazine would put in place of Bernard’s column when he was too drunk to write it.

In the original 1989 production, the eponymous antihero, who died of kidney failure eight years later at the age of 65, was played by Peter O’Toole.

In the new one-man version of the play, originally written by Keith Waterhouse, Cold Feet and Downton Abbey star Bathurst strides around the bar, helping himself from the vodka bottle in the optics.

However, in a recent interview he revealed it was only water. He said: ‘I work from the words on the page and then go from there, so I don’t need to do a pub crawl in order to be able to do this job.’

The star placed a copy of the trigger warning on social media but later explained it was a joke.

He said: ‘I issued the trigger warning as an ironic comment, which, enjoyably, has been taken seriously. I listed four themes referenced in the play Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell: smoking, gambling, alcohol and sex, all of which are completely legal adult activities.

‘I forgot to mention perhaps the most shocking and, to some people, potentially problematic aspect of the show, which is that it contains humour.’

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