• Theatre The theatrical version of Life of Brian will dispense with a gag so as not to offend trans viewers
  • Culture Could a film like Life of Brian be made today?
  • Humor The humor of Sébastien Thiéry, Monty Python and José Luis Cuerda

Former Monty Python John Cleese has denied he will censor a scene about a man who wants to gestate his own child for the stage adaptation of Life of Brian that he is carrying out and that will premiere in London in 2024.

"Of course I have no intention of doing so," he posted on his Twitter profile, after a report from the British newspaper The Telegraph last Monday, where it was assured that the actors refused to perform such a scene to "not offend".

However, he does acknowledge that the actors – several of them Tony Award winners – had advised him "emphatically" to eliminate this scene.

"A few days ago I spoke to an audience outside London. I told them I was adapting Life of Brian so we could do it as a stage show (not a musical). I said we had a reading of the last draft in New York a year ago... and that all the actors – several of them Tony winners – had strongly advised me to cut Loretta's scene. Of course, I have no intention of doing so," he explained. "No British media has called me to confirm the news, they believed what someone told them," he continued.

In this original scene appears a character (Stan), who explains that he wants to be a woman and asks to be called Loretta because it is his "right as a man" and states that he wants to "have children" adding that "men have the right to have children" and asks that "they do not oppress him".

Later, Cleese's character (Reg) tells Stan that he cannot give birth and his intention is not to "oppress" him but that having no womb he cannot gestate. "Where are you going to gestate the fetus, are you going to put it in a trunk?" asks Reg.

Likewise, John Cleese also reveals that the "first-class Broadway" actors were "convinced" that the scene would not take place. "I asked them, 'Are Python fans not coming because we're doing a scene they've been laughing at for 40 years?'"

In addition, he has denied that he will cut the song from Bright Side. "False, for a very good reason. We don't want to upset Eric Idle and it's his only contribution to the script of Life of Brian."

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