The last taboo

In The Guardian, Mark Lawson looks at the growing number of films and plays tackling the subject of child abuse.

This coincidence of projects on the topic suggests a lessening of the contentiousness around the subject matter. In fact, though, these pieces demonstrate - like Harrower's Blackbird - that, while no longer unofficially banned from mainstream dramatisation, pederasty remains a storyline that raises unusual difficulties for writers, performers and audiences.