National Theatre Live: The Motive and The Cue

There are slapstick moments of violence, including a stylised stabbing during a rehearsal of a Shakespearean play.

There is use of very strong language ('c**t'), strong language ('f**k') and other milder terms ('whore', 'bloody', 'sod', 'dick', 'crap', 'tart', 'hell', 'Jesus', 'God' and 'damn').

Scenes establishing sex occur, including a man removing a woman's underwear from underneath her dress as he straddles her on a sofa. A person meets with a sex worker in a hotel room and they discuss sex, oral sex and masturbation in a matter-of-fact manner, but things don't progress in a sexual way. There are also verbal sex references and innuendo, often comic in tone.

Two gay men discuss the prejudice and discrimination they face living in their own skin, particularly in the US. Discriminatory terms are used ('fairy', 'queers'), but are reported speech only. The production as a whole clearly opposes discriminatory attitudes.

Occasional verbal references are made to actors taking prescription medication to handle their nerves, or to rid them of a hangover.

Jokes about passing wind and underwear feature on occasion.

Verbal references are made to a young boy being abandoned by his abusive, drunken father, which also come with scenes of emotional upset.