Page "Mary Whitehouse" Paragraph 28

In 1982 she pursued another private prosecution, this time against Michael Bogdanov, the director of a National Theatre production of Howard Brenton's The Romans in Britain, a play that " drew a direct parallel between the Roman invasion of Celtic Britain in 54 BC and the contemporary British presence in Northern Ireland.

" The first act contains " a brief scene " of ( simulated ) anal rape, but the Police had visited the production three times and found no basis for legal action.

In the private prosecution Whitehouse's counsel claimed Section 13 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956, which described the offence of " procuring an act of gross indecency ", was applicable.

Because this was a general Act, there was no possibility of defence on the basis of artistic merit, unlike that permitted under the Obscene Publications Act.