Louise Kennedy can't be shocked

Interesting piece at the Boston Globe. Worthy of your attention.

I came to a shocking realization the other day: Apparently, I can't be shocked anymore.

Or at least I can't be shocked by any play that bills itself as shocking. I can be irritated, titillated, insulted, or annoyed; more often than anything else, I can be bored. But shocked? No.

I've been trying to figure out why. After all, some of the plays I've seen deal with unquestionably disturbing subjects, from child abuse to incest to torture to rape, while others use a whole sex shop's worth of props to shove their daringness in the audience's face. Many do both, and they may also throw in a few hairpin-sharp twists to keep a viewer off balance. And yet, somehow, they fail to shock.