Editing Tony Harrison (section)

==Works==

Adaptation of the English Medieval [[Mystery Plays]], based on the [[York Mystery Plays|York]] and [[Wakefield Mystery Plays|Wakefield]] cycles, ''[[The Mysteries (play)|The Mysteries]]'', were first performed in 1985 by the Royal National Theatre.<ref name="Head2006"/> Interviewed by [[Melvyn Bragg]] for [[BBC]] television in 2012, Harrison said: "It was only when I did the Mystery Plays and got [[Northern England|Northern]] actors doing verse, that I felt that I was reclaiming the energy of classical verse in the voices that it was created for."<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01czct7 "Melvyn Bragg on Class and Culture: Episode 2], [[BBC2]], broadcast 2 March 2012</ref>

One of his best-known works is the long poem "[[V (poem)|V]]" (1985), written during the [[UK miners' strike (1984-1985)|miners' strike of 1984–85]], and describing a trip to see his parents' grave in [[Beeston, Leeds#Holbeck Cemetery|Holbeck Cemetery]] in [[Beeston, Leeds]], "now littered with beer cans and vandalised by obscene graffiti".<ref>{{Cite web |title=V. by Tony Harrison – Moving Poems |url=https://www.movingpoems.com/2012/02/v-by-tony-harrison/ |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=www.movingpoems.com|date=9 February 2012 }}</ref> The title has several possible interpretations: victory, versus, verse, [[V sign#As an insult|insulting V sign]] etc. Proposals to screen a filmed version of "V" by [[Channel 4]] in October 1987 drew howls of outrage from the tabloid press, some broadsheet journalists, and MPs, apparently concerned about the effects its "torrents of obscene language" and "streams of four-letter filth" would have on the nation's youth.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-06 |title=Tony Harrison's V: Why a poem outraged 1980s Britain |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250305-tony-harrisons-v-why-a-poem-outraged-1980s-britain |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref> Indeed, an [[Early day motion|Early Day Motion]] entitled "Television Obscenity" was proposed on 27 October 1987 by a group of [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Members of Parliament]] (MPs), who condemned Channel 4 and the [[Independent Broadcasting Authority]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2013-01-15 |title=Why the fuss over Tony Harrison's poem V? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21024372 |access-date=2025-02-06 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> The motion was opposed only by MP [[Norman Buchan]], who suggested that fellow members had either failed to read or failed to understand the poem. The broadcast went ahead and, after widespread press coverage, the uproar subsided. [[Gerald Howarth]] MP said that Harrison was "Probably another [[bolshie]] poet wishing to impose his frustrations on the rest of us". When told of this, Harrison retorted that Howarth was "Probably another idiot MP wishing to impose his intellectual limitations on the rest of us".<ref name="The Independent">{{cite news|title=The Blagger's Guide To: Tony Harrison|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-blaggers-guide-to-tony-harrison-7687291.html|access-date=16 May 2013|newspaper=The Independent|date=29 April 2012}}</ref>