There is a long and proud history in the arts of people breaking new ground and challenging preconceptions.

This freedom to make daring choices, to start debate, and to turn things on their heads has, in the hands of our best artistic forces, produced many memorable works and performances.

But not everything done in the name of art is good art, or even art.

For every glittering talent, there are those whose vision falls woefully short.

And into this category we must place Rita Marcalo’s attempt to have an epileptic fit on stage at Bradford Playhouse by, having abstained from her usual drug treatment, subjecting herself to a barrage of seizure-inducing stimuli.

The central premise of this production would seem so clear and so wrong that the usually sensible advice of not condemning without first seeing does not hold true.

No one, surely, can be unaware that people can and do die from epileptic fits – and it doesn’t need this kind of sick stunt to get that message across.

A person having an epileptic fit is potentially near to death and, therefore, attempting to present that as art panders to the worst kind of voyeurism, far worse even than some of the excesses of the reality TV generation that has spawned it.

If, after all the controversy, it turns out to be little more than an offensive publicity stunt, the perpetrator deserves to be condemned anyway for her total disregard for the feelings of other epilepsy sufferers and their families.

The days of people’s medical conditions being exhibited as entertainment should be left in the freak shows of history, not misguidedly dragged on to 21st-century stages.