Is this piece of casting at Shakespeare’s Globe an example of ableism yes but also there’s a little more to it than that oh my God hey welcome back to my theater themed YouTube channel my name is Mickey Joe and I am obsessed with all things theater I am a professional theater
Critic pundit and content creator here on social media and this is my theater themed YouTube channel where I discuss all things theater I review the shows that I have been invited to go and see and occasionally I discuss theater news which is what we’re going to be doing today because Shakespeare’s Globe the
Historic venue on London’s South Bank currently find themselves at the center of a growing controversy around the Central casting of their upcoming production of Shakespeare’s Richard III in which artistic director Michelle Terry has allocated herself the titular role a role historically understood to be disabled and recently played by
Disabled performers hence why this particular piece of casting news was instantly met with accusations of ableism and excluding disabled performers from this opportunity un now this has been playing out on social media and in the press for a few days now I deliberately wanted to wait a few
Days to comment on it both because I have been recovering from an immense amount of jet lag coming back from New York but also because these things tend to develop over time people release statements and there’s now a lot of news and a lot of stuff that has happened
With this that we can talk about I’ve also now seen this slight several different ways and I’ve seen so many different takes the perspective of disabled performers and theater makers and other marginalized grp groups expressing solidarity people talking about the good work that this venue has
Done and whether this feels like a Witch Hunt people talking about the idea of wanting a role to be taken away from a woman playing man there’s there’s so much to talk about here and this requires a huge amount of nuance but perhaps to put you at ease watching this
The through line of this whole conversation is that we wouldn’t need to be talking about this if representation and access and opportunity which are three different things by the way for disabled performers creatives theater makers writers like at every level was already at the level that it ought to be
Put simply there is still not enough representation not enough opportunity and not enough access for disabled performers and theater makers and that is why this conversation still feels important and is that being said this being Shakespeare this being the globe there is a tremendous amount of History
Here that we have to consider so today I’m going to walk you through all of this we’re going to talk about this story we’re going to read through the statements that have been released I am going to be telling you my thoughts on it obviously I am not myself disabled I
Expressing solidarity with the disabled Community but this is just my perspective as a pundit and mine is not the most important voice here I will also be pointing you in the direction of some important resources and some important voices in this conversation but I’m also going to be telling you
About the history of this role and of this play and how understanding that can help provide important context for this conversation so if you enjoy today’s video and want to stay a breast of everything that is happening in the theater IND industry worldwide make sure to subscribe to my theater themed
YouTube channel and as always mine is just one opinion and I’m sure you will have thoughts of your own please comment in the comment section down below with insights that you may have into this conversation with your perspective on this casting with any historical insights you may have about previous
Productions of this play especially if you’ve seen any of the versions I will be talking about later I will remind you that this is a sensitive issue and to please keep all comments respectful what I would encourage us all to do is to just do a little bit of mental yoga this
Afternoon and just stretch our minds wide enough that we could consider a perspective different from our own perhaps even the perspective of a disabled performer whose career up to this point has been underscored by a lack of access and opportunity but I think that is more than enough of an
Introduction for today so let’s talk about ableism at Shakespeare’s Globe and the casting of Richard III so here is what happened on the 23rd of January the globe announced their season for the coming year which included but was not limited to a production of Shakespeare’s Richard III starring artistic director
Michelle Terry who has been at the venue for about 5 years as Richard III this is the latest example of like gender non-conforming casting that has been a feature of Michelle’s time at the venue as artistic director I’ll be talking in more detail about the other Productions
She has performed in the other roles she’s played at the venue later in this video but this was posted with the Curious caption a lack I love myself quoting the play but a little bit of an unfortunate choice in terms of announcing a production that will star
The artistic director who has cast thems in this role that’s the first detail we need to be aware of here because I’ve seen a lot of people talking about how the best actor was presumably hired for the role and in this instance that’s not really the casting approach that
Presumably took place without launching an entire inquiry or contacting the globe’s presumably very stressed press team it can be assumed that when the individual who is responsible for the venues programming is cast in a title role in a major production that they kind of decided that for themselves now
This unsurprisingly was quickly met with a whole bunch of quote tweets and we did have varying responses someone said Michelle knows how to speak Shakespeare will definitely be worth seeing this someone else said I agree with the criticism which had already emerged we need more visibility of disabled people
This is a story about a disabled Monarch it should be played by a disabled person someone else said I actually love Michelle Terry so this Richard is entirely correct someone said oh dear I think I have a funny feeling where this is going is Michelle Terry gearing up to
Play a next a being uh one of Shakespeare’s canonically black characters who was controversially played by sorence Olivier in blackface in like the 60s and another Salient response here most people’s only experience of disabled life is through the stories we tell so yeah it’s bloody dangerous when we get that wrong so in
Response to all of this here’s an open letter from the disabled artists Alliance which was was published on the 30th of January dear Shakespeare’s Globe we are writing to express our deep concern around the casting of Michelle Terry as Richard III in your forthcoming summer season we’ve tried to contact you
To resolve this offline and internally to no appropriate resolution ouch and now believe an open letter is the only solution I going to provide a link in the comment section down below if you want to read if you want to counter sign in solidarity those uh links will be
Available for you we the undesigned who are members of the disabled community and allies from across the theater and art industry are outraged and disappointed by the casting of a non-physically disabled actor in this role and the implications it has for not only disability but the wider conversations surrounding it Richard
Thei thir is an iconic disabled character perhaps the most famous disabled character in the British Cannon he is one of the First characters who experiences and documents the socialized effect of an attitudinally disabling society which is a really interesting point I think how those attitudes embitter us break us ruin our integrity
And character and how Richard himself salvages his scraps of power into a vile immorality as the only way to survive and Rule as a disabled man the script frequently mentions how he’s disabled from birth and the effects of the viewing of his disabled form affects his relationship power status and perception
It’s about a from birth socially ostracizing difference which is really interesting when you combine it with the fact that he is a monarch now to provide some historical context here after the somewhat recent discovery of the skeletal remains of Richard III there was a study by the University of leester
That concluded uh that he probably did have a slight scoliosis that would have been easy enough to hide but the historical accuracy of his disability isn’t really relevant to this conversation because it wasn’t in fact a documentary the play and what they’re talking about here is the character of
Richard III and not the not the real Monarch how he has written how he has depicted and how he has been broadly understood and remembered by audiences is as a disabled character indeed as they write here his disabled identity is imbued and integral to all corners of the script the production cannot be
Successfully performed with a non-physically disabled actor at the helm steering the complex and vitally important narrative now I think some people may disagree with that I personally think that’s true because I think authenticity is very important in performance I’ve spoke before about the importance of casting trans actors in
Trans roles I’ve spoken about the authenticity attained when you cast queer actors in queer roles I know there’s controversy around that also and I know that people have different opinions and I can already hear you typing and telling me that acting is it’s about acting it’s about changing
Who you are and playing something different to your own self but how many Great Performances do we have to see and how many of those like Roundtable discussions do we have to hear of actors talking about their performance and how they have brought truths and hones from
Their own life not realities they’re not playing their own exact C circumstance they’re not playing themselves but they are bringing an element of their own worldview Insight understanding and emotional history to that performance I just saw the motive in the queue in the West End and you witness this challenging working relationship between
Richard Burton who was playing Hamlet at the time another Shakespearean character and Sir John gilg good who was directing him and this entire performance his entire characterization is unlocked by this connection that he finds to an interpretation of Hamlet that um has a certain amount of crossover with his own
Life he resonates with the character on an important level as an actor and that I think is of Paramount importance if you have no emotional understanding of this character’s perspective because you haven’t had the capacity to understand it then it’s not going to work and that’s what they mean by it can’t be
Successfully portrayed it can be portrayed they can stage it it can happen people can buy tickets maybe it can sell well maybe people can enjoy it but I come on here all the time and talk to you about whether or not a production is successful and there’s a difference between something happening and
Succeeding carrying on they say it Additionally contravenes the globe’s ethos of diversity and inclusion across all protected characteristics which I am going to mention later because this is not a venue that has been historically and recently linked to issues of this nature and they are one of the better
Venues in London theater in terms of broad inclusive representation which is a part of why this is so disappointing there’s been incredible progress made across all facets and roots of the industry regarding disabled inclusion including the casting of disabled actors across disabled and traditionally non-disabled roles which again is
Something I want to pick up and talk about later in this video but meaningful representation for the disabled Community looks like two different things it looks like disabled actors having the opportunity to play disabled characters and bringing that additional level of authenticity and understanding but it also looks like disabled
Performers being given the opportunity to play characters beyond that spectrum and being able to be cast in roles where their disability is incidental because it doesn’t matter to that character without making a reductive comparison similar conversations have been unfolding about race in casting and about gender in casting and about body
Image in casting this role belongs to us it is offensive and distasteful for Richard to be portrayed by someone outside the community it reduces disability down to a disguise and physical act rather than a true grounded understanding of what disability means and I’m going to carry on but I will say
Um that we’re going to hear in the globe’s statement that by this point there had been no suggestion that Michelle Terry was going to betray Richard as disabled we’re going to come back to that the letter goes on to say disability means exclusion ostracization pain anger a lifetime of fighting for
Basic rights it isn’t something one can wear for the sake of a show and remove in the dressing room which is a pertinent Point again not necessarily in this production was that going to be the case but it doesn’t change the point disability is a protected identity that is often disrespected ignored and
Adopted by Outsiders for artistic purposes after the incredible hardship that we have suffered over the last few years that has seen right Stripped Away by this government leaving our community depleted tired and forgotten it is more important than ever to stand with us and work harder to implement more inclusive
Working practices and casting ethos we ask that you respect your disabled peers and artists enough to let them take control of their own narratives there can be nothing about us without us which I think is absolutely the way forwards in 2023 in 2024 even it is a new year I
Think we’ve developed enough understanding about the importance of representation about the value of people seeing themselves represented on stage but also of people seeing different types of people and different communities represented on stage and again it’s about that Honesty in performance that is going to affect understanding change empathy important
Things and they right and correct to call out the treatment of disabled people by this government I would love for there to be enough growth on both sides of this conversation for the globe and the disabled artist Community to come together and realize that the Tory government is really the real villain in
All of this and that as we approach a general election that’s that’s something we need to definitely remember but I’ve become distracted with politicization they also said we believe in a conversation around this Productions exploration of charismatic narcissism using mental health conditions as explanation for obsessive egotism and abominable manipulative Behavior
Directly negates the agency and odious conduct I mean I do think that may be making a slight presumption around the production but we’re going to hear from the globe soon enough they will have their chance to respond the point that this comes to is we are asking for an
Immediate recast of Richard to accurately reflect the truth of the script and his disabled identity again we’re talking about the script here and not history history is not really relevant to this piece of theater we also welcome further wide conversation about the creation and implementation of a successful proactive disabled casting
Policy that seeks to home canonically disabled characters within your work within the disabled community and there aren’t a wealth of them but there are others in Shakespeare it is not enough to be disability blind as you have stated intention of in the past it self- questionable terminology and that’s
Something that years ago may have sounded very Progressive and may have sounded very forward thinking but just again not to make a reductive comparon but just as we have seen with race this idea of not seeing race Once Upon a Time might have been viewed as something that
Was similarly Progressive but we now know that it’s important to be mindful of difference because there has been difference in inclusion difference of opportunity the same goes for the disabled Community disability blind implies a lack of the necessary awareness of the importance of inclusion in the casting process disability
Conscious is what we ought to be striving for that’s exactly what the next sentence said I promise you I hadn’t read that yet but rather to be disability conscious I agree wholeheartedly and be at the Forefront of change we ask for no hate violence or harassment to be sent to any member of
Staff or freelancer engaged at Shakespeare’s Globe past or present nor to anyone publicly signed below and there are many many names we are solely asking for a conversation and an act of rightful change thank you for your time and attention again the whole letter and the list of signatures is going to be
Linked down below for your perusal but the next thing to happen was a response on the 31st of January I believe from Shakespeare’s Globe a response to the conversation surrounding Richard II and disability we are aware that members of our artistic Community have raised questions and concerns regarding the
2024 summer seas and production of Richard III particularly in relation to Richard being played by a non-disabled actor we are committed to developing a culture of care empathy Equity conversation and accessibility that’s a lot of words across all our work at Shakespeare’s Globe and a keen to ensure communication remains open and and
Careful as we keep this complex and vital conversation going both with our artists and our audience I’m not sure that really says anything we’ve been in personal conversation with many people that’s ambiguous and anyone who has reached out to us we have met with in
The last few days we will continue to be in dialogue directly with our artistic communities over the coming months and we’ll be hosting conversations with further information on these to be announced in due course that’s a lot of words to say talking is important and we
We have done some talking and we like talking isn’t talk great here is the meat of this statement which is several paragraphs of words from artistic director Michelle Terry who I will remind you is the performer at the center of this who had cast themselves as Richard III firstly I want to
Acknowledge any pain or harm that has been caused by the decision for me to play Richard I third and I hope to provide some context as to how that decision has been made all programming casting decisions are made as consciously and rigorously as they can possibly be and always in dialogue with
Members of our many communities likewise I’m I’m taking excerts from this I will link the full response down below I will say immediately an acknowledgement of pain and harm is not an apology which I think would have been important to lead with here because harm was done uh
Whether intentional or not and an apology is important she goes on to say we are in the early stages of research and development and so have more questions than answers about this production but a big question for us is what is the play doing and is that a
Useful conversation to have with our audience at this moment in time I mean knowing how far in advance these venues program and all of this gets put in place I’m not sure how convinced I am that we are months away from this production and you’re still in the early
Stages of research and development asking big questions around like what even what even is this play what does this play want to do but here are her thoughts on that Shakespeare is drawing parallels and connections between the political corruption in the play and the political corruption at the time of
Writing Shakespeare offers us a world this is a lot of present tense for a man who is very Dead uh in which tyranny despotism populism infanticide corruption ambition abuse of power misogyny war and imporant acts of violence uh are all being committed with impunity of course you know all all
Political themes we wouldn’t be able to relate to today where’s my soap box I know I left it here somewhere how do evil and narcissistic bullies continue to find ways to gain and hold power and why are people so fascinated and seduced by these people even when they abuse
Their power and influence so openly audaciously and dangerously what are the conditions of a world that allows that to happen pertinent relevant question but it does nothing to address the actual controversy that this letter is meant to be in response to it also doesn’t begin to speak to why a disabled
Actor couldn’t be having the same conversations and then of course we have questions about the character of Richard here we go what is Shakespeare doing with the character of Richard and his self-titled deformity in quotation marks for some reason we know that Shakespeare was writing in a particular time leaning
On amplifying and sometimes exaggerating the early modern belief that a deformed body meant a deformed Soul we are asking whether this conflation of despot evil with disability is useful then as now the illiteracy around ableism and disability Justice is everywhere still in our society negative and pejorative unconscious bias asserts itself daily
And perpetuates inequity and Injustice does the conflation of evil with disability in the play offer us an opportunity to expose bias or does it compound it you know that’s a very difficult conversation and there’s truth in that but it’s somewhat undercut by a lack of the acknowledgement that Richard
As a character not only has historically been understood to be disabled but self-identifies as that way it’s a challenging conversation to unpack Richard’s disability and his sort of malevolence and Corruption but I was more persuaded by the comments made in the previous open letter that talked about uh his ostracization from society
And the impact that that had on him as a character and an individual ual and I think that’s a more persuasive character Insight than the idea of just making him not disabled anymore and simply evil I also think it’s a bit of a regressive stance on disability to oversimplify
This it reads a little like you don’t want to have a disabled actor in this role because the character is mean and you don’t want people to think disabled people are intrinsically evil and because that’s what the play suggests to AER certain extent but unless we’re actually rewriting Richard is still
Understood to be disabled in the play and uh at times disabled therefore evil I don’t know how a non-disabled actor playing disabled therefore evil makes it any better but perhaps answering that question the next bit says what play are we left to experiment with if this conflation is removed we’re left with a
Play about tyranny abuse of power and toxic misogyny and right now we feel that this is something important to explore and the themes are worth exploring but but those are also themes that are prevalent throughout Shakespeare’s work it didn’t have to be this particular play and again it didn’t
Have to be a non disabled actor more to the point and this is just coming to me in the moment there has been a wealth of disability representation at the globe as we are going to talk about momentarily but if you wanted to take away the otherness of Richard’s
Disability as a power Dynamic with the rest of the cast why not cast a fully disabled production in which every single actor is disabled and Richard’s malevolence is then conspicuous by contrast through no other reason than his character because he is not othered by his disability but we’re still
Casting in a way that is inclusive and allows disabled actors to tell this story what a great idea I’ve just had sitting in this chair thinking about this for all of like 20 minutes I mean someone should do that production I’m excited about that hypothetical production I’ve just come up with should
I call someone what if someone did that this summer in response to the globe that would be cool here is what I wanted to get to I will not alter my physicality to explore it I will not be playing Richard with a visible or physical impairment and we will frame
This production in such a way as to make it very clear the lens through which this interpretation is being explored there’s nothing with more clarity than Shakespeare in 2024 this production does not equal a permanent revision of the play or the Eternal Erasure of the character’s impairment or a rewriting of
A historical figure I acknowledge that for many Richard I thir is an iconic disabled figure I understand that this feels like a missed opportunity for a disabled artist to play a disabled character on a major UK stage it will come around again there is so much to
Unpack in those last few things so Michelle Terry is saying she’s not going to play Richard as disabled and they’re not going to conceive the character as disabled so this is not just Sutton Foster doing Violet and pretending to have a facial disfigurement this is uh them playing Richard III on the
Understanding that he isn’t actually disabled he’s just Wicked and also artistic director Michelle Terry and obviously that is better than Michelle an able-bodied performer playing disabled physically but it also so it does feel like the stripping away of a characteristic that has always been associated with this character sort of
Needlessly and I do get what they’re trying to do and that they’re trying to explore what happens to the play and the impact of the play if you remove that I think there’s value in that but I don’t think you have to necessarily do that without including disabled performers
What if Richard was the only non-disabled actor on that stage or also what if we had this sort of an experimental production on a less conspicuous stage than the globe I think there’s room to explore this as a concept but not at such a major venue not it’s such an important venue for
Shakespeare then we get round two it will come around again and true enough there are many many Shakespeare and Richard the third is not seen as often as a Romeo and Juliet A Midsummer Night stream a 12th night or a McBeth all of which are staged almost constantly in
The Yuga don’t even get me started on Hamlet but it is true enough that the roles do come around again however that is just a really unfortunate and port choice of words and a fairly thoughtless thing to say it Con just the image of a wheelchair user left stranded on a train
Station platform because they weren’t given the access onto the train and being told that they can just wait and catch the next one which is something that actually happens by the way often it also does nothing to speak for the validity of this production when you say
Oh well next time someone else will probably cast this appropriately we’re not going to but like someone else will let you through the door I’m going to walk through and close this door behind me but the next person who comes I’m sure they’ll hold it open for you do you
Hear how that’s a problem these plays also consciously and unconsciously offer us an opportunity to be in dialogue with the self and with each other the dialogue is always personal and vulnerable this doesn’t seem important our interpretation does not mean that we have forgotten disability we’ve just chosen to ignore it actively forgetting
Would be in in many ways much better the whole play is saturated with ableism that we will address and unpack throughout the process which is fantastic but there’s no reason you couldn’t do that with a disabled actor in the leading role this production in no way wants to undermine the need for
Disabled characters disabled stories to be told or to diminish the ambition for greater representation in our industry again that we’re going to let other people be responsible for in other Productions that is precisely why we have programmed and will continue to program as many ways as possible for
These stories to be told in conversations to be held and I will say the globe even in this season have done great things in disability inclusion in programming however you cannot in good conscience say we will continue to program as many ways as possible because this was possible this was possible it
Was possible to hire a disabled actor to play this disabled character and so you haven’t done it in as many ways as possible not really that’s not what this expression means and they’ve said it again in the next line we’ll continue to find as many ways as possible to
Diversify opportunity what you mean is as many ways as we choose to and that’s different we can always pay more attention be more rigorous more ambitious not only as artists in the work that we make but also with our audience and the role they play in
Making hey don’t make this our fault I didn’t cast you as Richard III talking about Shakespeare talking about Shakespeare talking about Shakespeare learning and understanding this is a journey but we are on it we are doing everything that we can to put this 400y Old Cannon to work for now and there
Will always be more to do as we decolonize these plays our spaces and ourselves with able-bodied actors the theatrical and imaginative framework of these plays means that we can open up all roles to all brilliant artists but you’re not you’re not opening all roles to all brilliant artists when the
Artistic director casts themselves careful wording come on now and create space for conversation with as much care as possible for both our artists and our audience we’re not there yet I got that but we are using our position of power and privilege to keep going with kindness in the shared Endeavor of
Equality Equity unity and social justice this moment has presented itself as an opportunity to push that conversation forward they said in reaction to the conversation being pushed forward by others we are aware that many of our exceptionally talented recent current and upcoming disabled artists have been overlooked in the public conversation
This moment in the work that we all have to do must not mean the ostracization aasia or invisibility of all the amazing artists that have been and continue to work tirelessly to make progress possible and that’s the statement and that gave us a little bit more of an insight into their thought process
Behind this I get what it is that they are trying to do I just don’t think that that necessitates this casting approach and again it’s difficult to justify and defend when it’s the artistic director themsel who has cast themsel in this role also I didn’t hear the word sorry
And I just think that it’s not the same thing as like admitting legal negligence and opening yourself up to any Mass criticism that isn’t already going to be leveled your way I think you know it’s it’s easy enough to say sorry that doesn’t mean you have to reverse your
Casting decision though that’s something that they should be considering at this time that doesn’t mean that you have to um admit fault even but you can be apologetic and remorseful for the way that this was was delivered without some sort of accompanying understanding of the controversy that was surely going to
Come with it like bare minimum you can just apologize that the disabled theatrical Community were wounded by this news we’re going to carry on because there’s so much continued saying about this and some important historical context which I think will be helpful to this conversation so we’ve spoken about
The historical disability of Richard III but regardless of his skeleton spine the character has long been understood to be disabled and has been played by both disabled and non-disabled actors as you might expect the trend has been towards disabled actors more recently sort of 1990s onwards which does kind of tie in
With disability law changing worldwide previous to this the late actor Sir Anthony Sher had played Richard III he played the role on crutches having had to previously use crutches as a result of an injury but he didn’t need to at the time and he spoke I think about how that gave him
An insight into the physicality and the frustrations for context here I broke both my wrist and ankle on separate occasions over the same summer once trying to be a roller skating train in an amateur production of Starlight Express I wish I was joking I’m not and ultimately had to use crutches and a
Wheelchair to get around it gave me a momentary insight into the frustrations of having to navigate using those things why do people park in front of dropped curbs my God but also I don’t believe for a second that that gives me the necessary Insight or understanding to
Play a disabled character on stage they have however been many performances of Richard II by disabled actors by disabled actors whose own disabilities have corresponded to his or not because I don’t think and I’m hoping to word this respectfully but you understand what I’m trying to say I don’t think a
Specificity of disability is necessarily of Paramount importance that is to say a wheelchair user could play Richard I third who wasn’t himself a wheelchair user because they have a similar understanding of all of the things that that open letter talked about of the ostracization of uh the disempowerment
Of being perceived by wider Society in a certain way because of their disability I think that gives enough of a kinship if you’d like enough of a insight and understanding to empower them to play the role appropriately the actor Peter Dinklage best known for appearing on Game of Thrones as Tyrion Lannister he
Played Richard III at the public theater in New York in 2004 and made very interesting comments about society’s impulse to look away from disabled people allowing his Richard to be able to get away with things when people aren’t looking and it’s that kind of an Insight that I never would have thought
Of and is a really interesting take on the character but you can stretch this a million different ways you can do that with Shakespeare you can interpret it in so many different senses but that is just one example of someone who has has had the lived experience of disability
Will have a different valuable insight into crafting a believable character of course Michelle Terry is not the only actor within the last 20 years uh who is not disabled to take on the role of Richard the third I saw Mark Ryland do it in a production at the Apollo Theater
Which aside from anything else was a weirdly comic take on the role but let’s talk about Michelle Terry herself so she came to be artistic director at the Globe Theater after Emma rice left the post and Michelle was coming into this role as an actor as an Olivier
Award-winning actor at that who had experience with Shakespeare who had performed at this venue many other artistic directors come to this position as directors and they will take on uh a certain amount of directing of the shows within that season some of them some of
Them sort of take more of a backseat and just program and then bring in other creatives to direct that season’s shows but certainly I don’t know know that people necessarily raise their eyebrows quite as much when directors get very involved in their own seasons and will direct a production every year and
Broadly Michelle Terry has starred in a Shakespearean production every year at the globe that she has been the artistic director pretty early on there she played hamlet in Hamlet which is kind of the most indulgent thing that you can do as an actor but it accompanied a new wave of gender
Nonspecific casting and disability inclusive casting even from her earliest Productions at the globe disability inclusion has been a factor I don’t want this to become a narrative that the globe have historically not included disabled performers because they have but what that tells us is that this wasn’t an ignorance this was a choice
Because they understand the value of disability inclusion they just didn’t think it was necessary here as an interesting side note emmer left the post because of a disagreement with the board at the globe uh that was largely attributed to her wanting to bring in controversial lighting technology like
She wanted to bring in more modern lighting rigs to what is a very historic and classic venue that in many ways kind of adheres to the theatrical traditions of Shakespearean times and it’s just funny to me that the globe is standing in solidarity with Michelle Terry over
This and Emma rice who was a really exciting and Innovative compelling theater maker basically got ousted for wanting to bring in new lights as an example of inclusive casting during Michelle Terry’s time at the globe she was in a production of King Le she didn’t play Leah Leah was played by the actress
Katherine Hunter Katherine Hunter is sort of known for being disabled I don’t know if she actually self-identifies that way because I can’t find anything uh during some admittedly brief research on the internet to indicate that so I’m loath to use that term but certainly is regarded as a
Voice within that community and was playing King Le a role that is not specifically disabled um and a role that is not traditionally played by a woman this is a male able-bodied role uh that Katherine Hunter was casting at the globe which is a progressive piece of casting Michelle ter was on stage
Alongside her and you may be asking well why if they want to do a female take on Richard III doesn’t Katherine Hunter do this production and the answer is because Katherine Hunter has already played Richard III at the globe about 20 years ago so there has been inclusion
There has been representation and there have been previous Productions of Richard III and so I don’t know honestly whether that makes this better or whether that makes this worse the opportunity has been there previously and it gives a certain amount of credence to what Michelle Terry has said
That it is going to come around again but it also tells us like I just finished saying they understand inclusion they understand the value of casting a disabled actor in this role and they just actively chose not to with this production making it less valuable finally some last few thoughts on this I
Went to see a play at the Donar Warehouse a little while ago called teenage dick if you don’t know it you should absolutely look into it but by all means do not Google it without some accompanying words for context uh but this was something of a modernization of
Richard III it was inspired by Richard III uh but it was set in a Contemporary American High School and rather than vying for uh you know the British Monarchy uh he was trying to win a student election and it was played by a disabled actor called Daniel monks who
I’ve subsequently seen in the normal heart at the National Theater and the seagull Jam Lloyd production of the seagull in the West End he is a revelation he is just fantastic and was wonderful in this and I think that is in many ways a more eloquent and vital and
Clear production for being able to articulate the important them themes prevalent within Shakespeare’s I think if we are striving for representation and the use of theatrical performance to affect change and understanding that contemporary plays like that that take the same idea that are inspired by the Shakespeare but speak with more clarity
To a modern audience and are able to say new things I think that’s the better way I think representation in the classics is important and opportunity in that genre for actors is also important but I think there is probably more potency around important dialogue in contemporary plays but having used some
Of those words again I want to talk finally about these important topics about opportunity representation and access access brings us into this conversation about opportunity and in this instance I mean there wasn’t opportunity for anyone besides artistic director Michelle Terry who decided to take the role but opportunity is opening
Doors in casting to disabled actors in disabled roles first of all like as a bare minimum but also to non-disabled roles I want to talk about one of my favorite casting examples recently which is the musical the little big things at at Soo place now this production and
This venue have done so much groundbreaking work in terms of representation which is the next thing we’re going to talk about I’m getting ahead of myself in disability but also there’s a few things that they do really well so first of all there are two wheelchair user characters
In the show both of whom are played by real both of whom are played by real life wheelchair users they both have a lot of material that contend with their emotional response to being wheelchair users and to disability and I think that that would be not nearly as impactful it
Would be Hollow and at worst uncomfortable to have non-wheelchair users playing those roles and pretending in that way one of my other favorite things about this casting is that the studies for these roles are also wheelchair users because very often we have authenticity on the face of it and
Then not behind the scenes and that starts to feel like it’s doing it for show that starts to feel a little bit performative rather than valuing the authenticity and the importance of that character consistently being played truthfully and honestly and correctly really but then those are the disabled
Characters in the show what I really like about the casting of the little big things is that we have disabled performers in non-disabled roles where it doesn’t make a shred of difference to their portrayal and they give a beautiful performance and a talented performance with Sensational vocals and heartfelt acting choices and their
Disability doesn’t begin to come into it I’m not going to say that it doesn’t matter because again seeing them on stage is important and valuable representation but there is no reason they can’t play that and a host of other roles in general one of the only things that is preventing disabled actors from
Playing more non-disabled characters from playing characters who may or may not be disabled and who that wouldn’t matter to their characterization the only thing that’s preventing them currently is access so then if you’re someone who is perhaps still scratching your head after all of this I want to
Just implore you to consider the value of representation and we have talked about this again in a host of other different parts of casting but the value of disabled audience members permitted that they are able to get into the building don’t get me started I’m going
To be talking more about this soon being able to see someone like them reflected on on stage May provide people the opportunity to realize that they could pursue a career they didn’t know they had the opportunity to previously but beyond that even beyond the world of disabled performers with acting
Aspirations it is valuable it is encouraging it is uplifting it uh acquires a certain amount of personal resonance that as non-disabled people we have access to all the time but from a privileged perspective that’s just another of the many things that we take take for granted and having said about
As much as I think I need to say about this and not wanting to go on too more because again I don’t want to Center myself in this conversation or speak for an entire group I am very very curious to hear what everyone thinks in the comments uh section particularly if you
Would like to share your perspective as a disabled person I know that there are some who regularly watch these videos and always provide really valuable insights for which I am very grateful please please please weigh in down below share your thoughts I will remind everyone to be respectful and
Considerate and uh just you know mindful in these comments I dare say this is not going to be the end of this particular controversy and I am anticipating that there is probably going to be a casting change I will be shocked if we get all the way to May and
The globe just forges ahead with this decision at very least I am expecting to see profound disabled inclusion in The Wider Supporting Cast maybe they could do that thing I mentioned at one point where every other member of the company is a disabled actor I still don’t know
If that’s really the most appropriate thing to do because you’re still casting an able-bodied actor in a in the role of a disabled character but at least it may ask some questions and would provide for you know a wealth of access and inclusion and opportunity for disabled performers which is something ultimately
I couldn’t be mad at even if it was a little controversial but if there are sizable developments in this story on I’ll be making a video on here or I may be commenting further on other social media platforms if you want to stay a breast of all of this you can go and
Find me on Instagram on uh the app forly known as Twitter on Facebook but thank you so much for watching this video I hope that you found it valuable and helpful all of the open letters and statements that I read from are linked in the comment section down below if you
Want to go and share your support and advocacy then go do that in the meantime I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagy day for 10 more seconds I’m Mickey Joe theater oh my God hey thanks for watching have a stagey day subscribe
source
