Mohs Scale Of Violence Hardness / Theatre

The Mohs Scale of Violence Hardness as applied to theatrical works, such as plays, musicals and operas. It should be noted that the rating of many of the works listed below can vary somewhat from production to production, depending on how specific the author's stage directions are.

In general, an act of violence committed offstage but shown afterwards (e.g. a freshly-killed corpse, a severed body part or a victim with visible fresh wounds or mutilations appearing on the stage) will rank a level lower than if the atrocity were committed onstage; if not shown afterwards but heard via screams or other sounds, it will be a level or two lower still. A committed or attempted violent act will rank at least one level higher if the victim is a child.

Level 0

• All's Well That Ends Well
• Così Fan Tutte
• Eumenides
• L'elisir d'amore
• Die Fledermaus
• The Importance of Being Earnest
• Lady Windermere's Fan
• Love's Labour's Lost
• The Marriage of Figaro ^note  The disguised Susanna repeatedly slaps her husband in the face onstage, but that's it.
• The Merry Widow

Level 1

• As You Like It ^note  Onstage wrestling with fatal intent on one side.
• La Bohème ^note  Lingering onstage death by tuberculosis.
• The Comedy of Errors ^note  Onstage beating of servants.
• Measure for Measure ^note  Offstage beheadings, never heard or shown.
• The Merchant of Venice ^note  Failed attempt at a legislated gruesome mutilation. May rise to a 2 depending on how much "preparation" is shown before being interrupted.
• A Midsummer Night's Dream ^note  Onstage major physical quarrelling, including a threat of eye-scratching.
• Much Ado About Nothing ^note  Onstage rough handling of a lady.
• Oedipus at Colonus ^note  Onstage forceful abduction of a lady.
• Pericles, Prince of Tyre ^note  Onstage attempted murder.
• Ruddigore ^note  Onstage beginning of non-explicit supernatural torture.
• The Taming of the Shrew ^note  Onstage beating; non-violent but sustained domestic abuse. A hard 1.
• Timon of Athens ^note  Onstage throwing of dishes at people.
• Twelfth Night ^note  Onstage beating.

Level 2

• Agamemnon ^note  Offstage killing accompanied by shouting.
• Antigone ^note  Bodies of offstage suicide victims revealed onstage.
• Arsenic and Old Lace ^note  Serial offstage fatal poisonings; attempted murder.
• Cavalleria Rusticana ^note  Onstage biting of ear, visibly drawing blood; offstage killing with audible commotion. Can be Level 3 if the killing is staged onstage.
• Electra ^note  Freshly-killed murder victim's body brought onstage.
• The Libation Bearers ^note  Offstage killing accompanied by a scream.
• The Merry Wives of Windsor ^note  Onstage (mild) burning of skin with wax tapers and beating.
• Der Rosenkavalier ^note  Onstage wounding with a sword and sexual harassment.
• The Two Noble Kinsmen ^note  Onstage death resulting from offstage killing.
• The Women of Trachis ^note  Slow, agonising but goreless death by a corrosive cursed shirt (victim is carried onstage for a death scene).

Level 3

• Assassins ^note  Onstage or offstage fatal shooting, depending on the production.
• Carmen ^note  Onstage fatal stabbing.
• Cyrano de Bergerac ^note  An entire scene in which Cyrano is dying of a visible head injury.
• Der Freischutz ^note  Onstage fatal shooting which is completely non-explicit and supernaturally redirected.
• Lohengrin ^note  Onstage fatal stabbing.
• Hamilton ^note  Onstage shooting, two of which are fatal.
• Madame Butterfly ^note  Suicide by throat-slitting behind a curtain. If this is done onstage, the opera becomes a 5.
• Medea ^note  Offstage killing of two children with audible commotion and screams.
• Pagliacci ^note  Onstage fatal stabbing during a play-within-a-play.
• The Playboy of the Western World ^note  Offstage near-fatal blows with a loy, the victim of which appears onstage visibly wounded.
• The Play That Goes Wrong ^note  Onstage slashing after a sword fight (the blood is portrayed comedically), all other violence is merely 1 or 2 in some cases.
• Romeo and Juliet ^note  Onstage fatal stabbings.
• The Tempest ^note  Offstage attempted rape in backstory.
• Troilus and Cressida ^note  Onstage fatal stabbing. The script states that the victim of which will be dragged behind a horse after the end of the play; if enacted, this play becomes a 4.
• The Winter's Tale ^note  Gruesomely described offstage mauling by a bear after said bear has chased the victim off the stage.
• The Wizard of Oz ^note  Non-explicit fatal crushing of hitherto unseen character (only a pair of legs visible after the fact); non-explicit and goreless fatal melting with water.

Level 4

• Coriolanus ^note  Onstage murder by multiple stabbings. There is limited evidence in the dialogue (though not the stage directions) for this being a literal cutting of the victim to pieces, which would push this play up to at least a 7 if enacted.
• Dialogues des Carmélites (Poulenc) ^note Nuns walk single-file from onstage to behind a curtain, where they are beheaded with an audible guillotine sound.
• Faust ^note  Onstage killing, blood-signing of a contract; offstage drowning of a baby.
• Julius Caesar ^note  Onstage murder by multiple stabbings and suicides by sword; offstage tearing apart of a victim and suicide by eating hot coals.
• Little Shop of Horrors ^note  People being fed to a carnivorous plant. May be a level 5 depending on explicitness.
• Les Misérables ^note  Onstage firearm killings; a visibly gravely wounded character.
• Miss Saigon ^note Onstage gunshot killing and attempted stabbing of a young child.
• Oliver! ^note  Onstage fatal bludgeoning with a club.
• Othello ^note  Onstage fatal smothering and stabbings.
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona ^note  An onstage Near-Rape Experience.

Level 5

• Amadeus ^note  Onstage attempted suicide by throat-slitting with a razor.
• Antony and Cleopatra ^note  Onstage botched suicide by falling on a sword causing a prolonged death scene, and suicides by snake-bite.
• The Book of Mormon ^note  A character gets shot in the head, and the blood splatters on Kevin Price's shirt.
• Dog Sees God ^note  Forceful breaking of fingers by slamming a piano lid down.
• Don Giovanni ^note  Onstage fatal stabbing and sexual assault.
• Hamlet ^note  Onstage stabbings and poisonings; offstage beheadings (not shown), drowning, and gruesomely-described murder by poison poured in the ear.
• Henry VI Part 3 ^note  Onstage fatal stabbing of a child (he's stated to be 12, which is historically inaccurate, as his real-life counterpart was 17.)
• The Jew of Malta ^note  Onstage live boiling in a cauldron and deaths by poisoning.
• La Juive (Fromental Halévy) ^note  Onstage live boilings in a cauldron.
• Lucia Di Lammermoor ^note A "mad scene" in which the heroine's gown is blood-soaked from killing her new husband; onstage suicide by stabbing.
• Lulu (Alban Berg) ^note  Onstage shooting, stabbing, and strangulation.
• The Magic Flute ^note  Onstage stabbing of a giant serpent, sexual assault, and interrupted suicide; offstage attempted rape.
• Porgy and Bess ^note  Onstage fatal stabbing with a fish-hook and sexual assault.
• Richard III ^note  Onstage murder by stabbing and drowning in a barrel of wine; offstage strangulation of two young princes.
• A Streetcar Named Desire ^note  Heavily implied offstage rape resulting in insanity and domestic violence.
• Tristan and Isolde ^note  Onstage fatal stabbings, one of which causes a prolonged near-death scene, at the end of which the victim tears away the bandages from his wound and dies.
• West Side Story ^note  A 5 for a rape attempt, otherwise 3 for an onstage fatal stabbing and fatal shooting.

Level 6

• Cymbeline ^note  Severed head, and the corresponding body, are brought separately onstage.
• Doctor Faustus ^note  Onstage pulling off of a leg (fairly non-explicit; the leg instantly grows back); stabbing of an arm and blood-signing of a contract.
• The Duchess of Malfi ^note  Severed hand brought onstage; stabbings and strangulations.
• Duke Bluebeard's Castle (Béla Bartók) ^note  Presentation of a bloody torture chamber (which, if made very explicit by the production, may rise to a 7); serial offstage killings in backstory.
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ^note  Sometimes wishy-washy in terms of explicitness, but it does depict murder, torture, dead bodies, discusses and partially depicts death camps, sport murder, people blowing up bridges for fun, and people being burned alive, and has the audience hear/witness a double murder, amongst other things.
• Henry VI Part 2 ^note  Severed head brought onstage.
• King John ^note  Severed head brought onstage; onstage death by falling from a height; a near-attempt at a gruesome blinding.
• The Rocky Horror Show ^note  Cannibalism (fairly non-explicit).
• Tamburlaine ^note  Onstage suicides by braining, fatal throat stabbing, and burning of bodies.
• Tosca ^note  Offstage torture; onstage attempted rape (the titular Scarpia Ultimatum); onstage execution by firing squad, stabbing, and suicide by jumping.
• Turandot ^note  Severed head brought onstage; offstage beheading; onstage suicide by stabbing; threat of torture

Level 7

• The Changeling (Middleton and Rowley) ^note  Onstage severing of a finger from a freshly-killed corpse and fatal stabbings.
• The Insatiable Countess (John Marston) ^note  Onstage beheading.
• Macbeth ^note  Severed head brought onstage; onstage murder of a child, Macbeth blood-covered after an offstage killing, visibly bleeding character; offstage bisection.
• The Massacre at Paris (Marlowe) ^note  Onstage severing of an ear.
• Oedipus Rex ^note  Offstage self-inflicted eye-gouging, shown afterwards.
• The Revenger's Tragedy ^note  Severed head and freshly killed bodies brought onstage; onstage attempt at a braining using aforementioned severed head, stamping on a dying victim, and many fatal stabbings; offstage rape.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ^note  Onstage fatal throat-slashings and rape; offstage cannibalism.
• 'Tis Pity She's a Whore ^note  Human heart brought onstage on the end of a sword; onstage fatal stabbings; offstage blinding.

Level 8

• Antonio's Revenge (John Marston) ^note  Onstage severing of a tongue and stabbing of a child; a dish of severed human limbs brought onstage.
• Edward II ^note  Onstage impaling with a red-hot poker.
• John van Olden Barnavelt (John Fletcher) ^note  Onstage beheading in a guillotine, in which several fingers are simultaneously also mutilated.
• King Lear ^note  A hard 8 due to the explicit onstage eye-gouging, bordering on level 9 if the eyes are then thrown down and trodden upon as the dialogue implies (and some productions do).
• The Spanish Tragedy ^note  Onstage biting off of a tongue.

Level 9

• Pheadra's Love ^note  Onstage rapes, tearing apart and disembowelment of live victim.
• Selimus (Robert Greene) ^note  Onstage eye-gouging and severing of hands.
• Titus Andronicus ^note  Onstage severing of a hand, cutting of throats with ensuing fatal bleeding into a bowl, and cannibalism; offstage gang-rape and severing of hands and tongue, shown afterwards; severed heads brought onstage.

Level 10

• Blasted ^note  Onstage rapes, gouging and eating of eyes, cannibalism of a dead baby.
• Cleansed ^note  Onstage rape with a pole and severing of hands, tongue, and feet; offstage severing of genitals.

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