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| Emma Rice to step down as artistic director at Shakespeare's Globe | Emma Rice to step down as artistic director at Shakespeare's Globe |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Emma Rice, the artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe, is to step down in 2018 after just two years in charge. | Emma Rice, the artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe, is to step down in 2018 after just two years in charge. |
| The theatre announced that it was returning to the stripped-down “shared light” productions that characterised work before Rice’s arrival. | |
| That leaves no space for Rice, who has not been afraid to shake things up and risk upsetting traditionalists. In a statement after the announcement, she said: “I have had a wonderful time creatively here at the Globe, but I respect the board’s decision for its future direction.” | |
| Neil Constable, the theatre’s CEO, praised Rice’s “mould-breaking” work that had achieved “exceptionally strong” box-office returns. | |
| But he added: “Following much deliberation and discussion, the Globe board has concluded that from April 2018, the theatre programming should be structured around ‘shared light’ productions without designed sound and light rigging. | But he added: “Following much deliberation and discussion, the Globe board has concluded that from April 2018, the theatre programming should be structured around ‘shared light’ productions without designed sound and light rigging. |
| “The Globe was reconstructed as a radical experiment to explore the conditions within which Shakespeare and his contemporaries worked, and we believe this should continue to be the central tenet of our work.” | “The Globe was reconstructed as a radical experiment to explore the conditions within which Shakespeare and his contemporaries worked, and we believe this should continue to be the central tenet of our work.” |
| Shared light characterised productions under the direction of her predecessors Dominic Dromgoole and Mark Rylance. Because the Globe’s performances mostly take place in the evening, it uses electric light to simulate daylight so actors and audiences can see each other naturally. | |
| The theatre said it enabled actors to play “with” rather than “to” or “at” audiences. It added: “Actors therefore develop their ability to give and take focus using voice, gesture and movement.” | The theatre said it enabled actors to play “with” rather than “to” or “at” audiences. It added: “Actors therefore develop their ability to give and take focus using voice, gesture and movement.” |
| Rice, who arrived in April and was previously in charge of Kneehigh, one of the UK’s most innovative companies, has upset some with her approach to both productions and Shakespeare himself. She has not been afraid to have actors miked up, and her production of A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream was wild and rowdy. | |
| Before she arrived Rice cheerfully admitted not having read many of Shakespeare’s plays. “I have tried to sit down with Shakespeare but it doesn’t work,” she said. “I get very sleepy and then suddenly I want to listen to The Archers.” | Before she arrived Rice cheerfully admitted not having read many of Shakespeare’s plays. “I have tried to sit down with Shakespeare but it doesn’t work,” she said. “I get very sleepy and then suddenly I want to listen to The Archers.” |
| But she struck a chord with many people when she talked about being overly-reverent to Shakespeare, and about his plays being a kind of cultural medicine. | But she struck a chord with many people when she talked about being overly-reverent to Shakespeare, and about his plays being a kind of cultural medicine. |
| Rice has not been afraid to take liberties with Shakespeare’s text. In her staging of A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream she cast cabaret star Meow Meow as Titania, while Helena became a man, Helenus, who falls in love with Demetrius. She commissioned a production of Cymbeline, “renamed and reclaimed” as Imogen, which was set in a world of drugs and gang warfare. | |
| While some saw Rice as a breath of fresh air, helping to attract new and younger audience members, others disagreed. Writing in the Times last month, the cultural commentator Richard Morrison said Rice was wrecking the Globe. | While some saw Rice as a breath of fresh air, helping to attract new and younger audience members, others disagreed. Writing in the Times last month, the cultural commentator Richard Morrison said Rice was wrecking the Globe. |
| While Constable praised Rice’s brilliance and inventiveness, there remains a suspicion that the Globe’s decision to part company with her may be down to a desire for less controversy. | While Constable praised Rice’s brilliance and inventiveness, there remains a suspicion that the Globe’s decision to part company with her may be down to a desire for less controversy. |
| The theatre commentator Terri Paddock, founder of the website MyTheatreMates, said it was a sad day. “When I tweeted about the news the instant response was just complete shock, quite a lot of outrage and disappointment. Within the industry there was so much support and excitement for her appointment, that the Globe was being really innovative and giving the job to someone who could be properly pioneering.” | The theatre commentator Terri Paddock, founder of the website MyTheatreMates, said it was a sad day. “When I tweeted about the news the instant response was just complete shock, quite a lot of outrage and disappointment. Within the industry there was so much support and excitement for her appointment, that the Globe was being really innovative and giving the job to someone who could be properly pioneering.” |
| Paddock said it was particularly disappointing because Rice was one of the few women in charge of a flagship theatre organisation. The speed of the decision is also striking. “She has not been given much chance to fail and you need to have that right with artistic experimentation. If you look at when Kevin Spacey took over the Old Vic – a disastrous first season – but he was a man and a Hollywood name and he was given a chance, so to give up on Emma Rice after one year is really disappointing.” | |
| The theatre critic Mark Shenton, associate editor of the Stage newspaper, said the affair smacked of “bad board management … They knew what they were getting when they appointed her. If that is not what they wanted then they should not have appointed her.” | |
| Shenton said he liked Rice. “I thought she was bringing a really new energy to the Globe, for the first time they were doing something different there. I thought they would stick with it. It was a shock to see lighting at the Globe but was also very welcome, it was always difficult to peer at the productions through the gloom.” | |
| Rice suggested some of the criticism she has received might be because she is a woman and that some of the language used about her made her blood boil. | |
| She said one senior arts figure repeatedly described her as “naughty”. “Who would use that word to a man?” she asked. | |
| In her statement Rice said she was still looking forward to her summer 2017 season. It will feature a Romeo and Juliet directed by English National Opera’s artistic director Daniel Kramer and a new Twelfth Night directed by Rice. | |
| Shakespeare’s Globe, meanwhile, said it would make a further statement when it announced the process for replacing Rice. |