Dry Land playwright says men shocked by graphic abortion scene should learn more about the issue

A performance of the blood-splattered play was cancelled last week after a male member of the audience fainted

Milly Thomas, right, as Amy, and Aisha Fabienne Ross, as Ester, tackle a difficult subject in ‘Dry Land’ (Frances Loney)

Men who are shocked by a graphic West End theatre scene about abortion should find out more about the issue as they “almost certainly” have female friends who have gone through such experiences, the playwright has said.

One male member of the audience for the blood-spattered play Dry Land fainted last week, leading to the performance being cancelled.

But Ruby Rae Spiegel, the 22-year-old American writer, told The Independent she wanted the portrayal of abortion to be accurate and make people think about “what is an extremely common experience around the world”.

“There are so few representations of it on stage and screen, so it makes sense that it would be shocking to people who have no experience of it,” she said. “If blood wasn’t part of it, I wouldn’t put it on stage – but it is.”

“I’m glad this man is doing all right,” she said of the man who collapsed, admitting she was a “little squeamish around blood” herself. “But if it’s shocking to men, you almost certainly have a female friend who has gone through this. You should ask her about it.”

Dry Land, currently showing at the Jermyn Street Theatre in central London, is Ms Spiegel’s first full-length play. It is set predominantly in a Florida high school locker room and tackles issues including teenage sex, female sexuality and peer pressure.

The character of Amy, played by Downton Abbey’s Milly Thomas, takes an abortion pill prompting her to miscarry with blood spilling onto the stage.

The Independent’s critic, Paul Taylor, called it a “remarkably accomplished and unsettling play”, but added he would not watch the abortion scene again “unless at gunpoint”.

Ms Spiegel said she never considered cutting the scene even when some New York venues refused to stage her play if it was not toned down or cut. “As a writer you want to tackle spaces that have silence around them,” she said.

Ms Spiegel said she was inspired to write the play after reading an article in The New Republic magazine on DIY abortions. “Now we have pills that can be bought online. The internet is really shaping self-abortion methods. In the US it’s becoming more difficult to obtain a safe abortion,” she said.

“My hope is that if it is shocking to you, it makes you think about what is an extremely common experience across the world. This is not for shock’s sake.”