Sarah Bryce

ALT Slide 1/4 On Monday 18th March Disabled Artists Alliance met with Shakespeare’s Globe in an independently mediated conversation. We assembled a Group of Representatives to accompany the core team who attended anonymously. We shared two statements alongside additional support from our representatives team, outlining our objection to Shakespeare’s Globe’s upcoming production of Richard III and specifically the casting of a non-disabled actor in the role of Richard. On Friday 22nd March, we received a statement from Shakespeare’s Globe. This statement thanked us for our sharing of opinion, concern and nuanced, detailed objection. We were told it was “profound, important and necessary” to “understand all perspectives” and the “impact of position on the identity of the disabled community, on work and potentially on the wider sector.” It was then disclosed that they are continuing with this production of Richard III, with production and casting decisions as they had originally planned.

ALT Slide 2/4 We have had to wait on making another public statement as the accessible formatting of information we asked of Shakespeare’s Globe as a prerequisite to our meeting, to include meeting notes and text chat, has not yet been fulfilled to an appropriate standard. We were told at the meeting that they had discussed this production internally with a small group of 5 people, some of which we are told were disabled. We question why those five people they consulted initially on this production have more weight in this conversation than the hundreds that are speaking out - almost 300 individual signatories and 36 organisations on our letter, plus hundreds more speaking out individually. In addition to the DAA official meeting, many signatories on our letter, and other theatre professionals, have met individually with The Globe surrounding this issue to no avail. We believe The Globe’s artistic desires mean more to them than disabled people’s welfare and justice.

ALT Slide 3/4 There is a culture of learning, but what is knowledge without action? Seeking more knowledge with no desire to action is disingenuous. Disability justice cannot exist without corrective action. To listen and not change is not an apology. To acknowledge harm in action and continue on is oppression. Within our meeting, we were urged, in a statement from Michelle Terry, to consider the political landscape in which their production is sitting. She cited the influence of tyrannical political leaders on a lost world. We urged the Globe to consider their disabled erasure in the political landscape in which their production is sitting. The wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, where disabled people have been cleansed, ignored and denied equity at every corner.

ALT Slide 4/4 We urge individuals to consider their interaction with this production and the impact of indulging their morbid curiosity of it. We urge you to consider what true solidarity in action looks like with the disabled community who have been let down and damaged by this decision. DAA will continue to speak out on the infringement of disabled people’s rights and battle ableist practice throughout the sector, implementing disability conscious casting to put an end to disabled mimicry and protect and preserve disabled narratives. This miscarriage of disability justice is a shining example of why we as a sector need to come together and work harder for the betterment of disabled working conditions; equitable treatment of disabled rights and the value of disabled art and opinion. Disabled Artist Alliance #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs