524 posts
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Post by wiggymess on May 9, 2018 8:33:28 GMT
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170 posts
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Post by paplazaroo on May 9, 2018 10:28:10 GMT
I think this has been reported a bit harshly. As far as I know they were pitched a play that would explore and expose the rise of white nationalism using British mythology. The idea being like a modern day King Arthur which would ridicule the ideology and preconceptions of nationalism, as satire. The problem with satire is you have to be extremely smart to get it right and I think the writer had been too ambitious with the idea and couldn’t deliver on it in the timeframe. Then with venues booked and money spent they had to try and devise something at which point they fell apart and realised they couldn’t do it so pulled the show at great personal and financial cost with an apology. I’m sure none of the people involved are racist and they set out to do it with only good intentions.
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1,120 posts
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Post by samuelwhiskers on May 9, 2018 14:03:23 GMT
I've worked with the writer and, well. I won't kick someone when they're down. But privilege is a hell of a drug.
Maybe the theatre industry should be less willing to chuck money at people whose confidence vastly outweighs their accomplishments.
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Post by asfound on May 11, 2018 7:10:42 GMT
Sounds interesting. Reading the article it sounds less like it was an actual racist work and more like a similar case to Exhibit B e.g. a piece designed to probe a difficult subject that went down badly. Which is a shame because I don't think I've ever really seen a play that I've considered genuinely challenging - I think theatre is pretty homogeneous in terms of politics and reckon it would be interesting to see work from broader perspectives. The complaints from the actors sound fairly generic and I imagine the company didn't want the heat but I guess if the play wasn't good enough maybe it genuinely wasn't.
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Post by Jan on May 12, 2018 12:20:49 GMT
Can a playwright who is not a racist write a racist play ?
It is the argument we had about “England People Very Nice” which portrayed some immigrant communities using rather crude stereotypical caricatures and thus offended some in those communities but because (apparently) Bean and Hytner weren’t themselves racist it was all waved through. On the whole we should probably listen to those who are the subject of the alleged racism, the BAME actor in this case.
It is an old problem. Johnny Speight and Warren Mitchell weren’t racist and they created Alf Garnett to show up the ignorance of those who were, but in my experience the show was enjoyed most by those who agreed with Alf and so in practice it was not really any different to Love Thy Neighbour.
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