O'Thomas, Mark ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9264-8813 (2022) Rita, Sue and #Metoo: the Royal Court Theatre, London, and liberalism. Comparative Drama, 56 (1&2). pp. 157-178. ISSN 0010-4078 (doi:10.1353/cdr.2022.0006)

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Abstract

The #metoo movement, which emerged as a clarion call against sexism in the workplace, had its origins in the film industry and gained ground when a number of women (and in some cases men) drew attention to a communality of experience of suffering consistent sexual harassment and abuse from high-profile, high-status men. As the #metoo hashtag gathered momentum, its impact became felt more widely as it unearthed the long-standing and unacknowledged abuse of actors exerted by men in powerful positions over decades. In London, that bastion of cultural liberalism The Royal Court Theatre itself became embroiled in the debate when its artistic director Vicky Featherstone pulled the revival of Andrea Dunbar’s Rita, Sue and Bob Too from its 2018 season due to a number of allegations surfacing against the play’s original director (and former Artistic Director of the Court) Max Stafford-Clark. Due to the subsequent outcry against a play (which is itself about the sexual abuse of young women by an older man) being seemingly banned, the theatre then reversed this decision. At the same, the Court took centre stage of what then became a national debate as it promoted its own, newly emerged ‘code of behaviour’ for the theatre industry – a document which articulated some of the issues and complexities of working with actors in areas where abuse might occur and could be more easily obscured (such as in the directing of scenes engaging in sexual intimacy or requiring nudity). This article considers the role of The Royal Court Theatre in navigating the politics and consequences of #metoo particularly in light of its relationship to other socio-political markers such as race and class. In doing so, it argues that questions of power and privilege cannot be masked or eclipsed by an assumed, all-pervasive liberalism but rather liberalism itself needs to be re-honed and re-owned in ways that embrace more risk and more radical interventions into the theatrical space.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Forthcoming article for Comparative Drama - special issue
Uncontrolled Keywords:	liberalism; drama; London; "royal court theatre"; metoo
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0080 Criticism P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > School of Humanities & Social Sciences (HSS)
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	07 Jan 2023 01:38
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/36384

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