Not a play, Greg, but in 1977 Mary Whitehouse brought a successful private prosecution against the editor of Gay News for publishing an item (poem, I think) in which a Roman centurion fantasised about sex with Jesus. And of course Life of Brian created something of a furore for blatently, if harmlessly, poking fun at Christianity. I doubt whether either the poem or the film would have provoked similar reactions if given their first airings now, rather than then.

But I don't see the Birmingham fuss as specifically a Sikh thing anyway. Christian and other churches have implicated themselves by supporting Sikh demands to withdraw the play. Worse than that, the three main political parties are also siding with the protesters.

Behzti (the Birmingham play) is billed as a black comedy. The theatre has been entirely upfront about the content, so anyone who doesn't like it need not go to see it. Objectors have every right to protest and to seek air-time for intelligent discussion. (Indeed they are getting such air-time and should welcome it as a rare and useful platform.) They have NO right to follow last night's violent rampage with threats that the violence will continue until the play is taken off (which seems to be their present position).