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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/18/new-shakespeares-globe-chief-promises-far-more-diverse-casting-michelle-terry
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| New Shakespeare's Globe chief promises far more diverse casting | New Shakespeare's Globe chief promises far more diverse casting |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| The new artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre has promised much more diverse casting in terms of race and disability, with a 50-50 split between men and women. But the jury is still out on the issue of class. | The new artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre has promised much more diverse casting in terms of race and disability, with a 50-50 split between men and women. But the jury is still out on the issue of class. |
| Michelle Terry said diversity would be an important part of her tenure as she spoke for the first time since being named successor to the ousted Emma Rice. | Michelle Terry said diversity would be an important part of her tenure as she spoke for the first time since being named successor to the ousted Emma Rice. |
| “The whole season will be 50:50 and that’s not just small parts played by women or small parts played by men. Across the season the body of work will be equal amounts for male or female. It will be gender blind, race blind, disability blind.” | “The whole season will be 50:50 and that’s not just small parts played by women or small parts played by men. Across the season the body of work will be equal amounts for male or female. It will be gender blind, race blind, disability blind.” |
| Better representation in the arts is one of the industry’s most pressing issues, and Terry said she had benefited from “gender blind” casting playing Henry V, in an acclaimed performance at the Regent’s Park theatre. She said that when she played the role it was with a backdrop ofthe Chilcot inquiry findings, women on the frontline, Theresa May becoming prime minister. “Me being a woman was the last thing on people’s mind,” said Terry. | Better representation in the arts is one of the industry’s most pressing issues, and Terry said she had benefited from “gender blind” casting playing Henry V, in an acclaimed performance at the Regent’s Park theatre. She said that when she played the role it was with a backdrop ofthe Chilcot inquiry findings, women on the frontline, Theresa May becoming prime minister. “Me being a woman was the last thing on people’s mind,” said Terry. |
| Asked whether she agreed that the issue of class, as a Labour party report last week argued, was often missing from the diversity debate, she said it was a subject she was going to interrogate, “because I’m not sure what that means any more. | Asked whether she agreed that the issue of class, as a Labour party report last week argued, was often missing from the diversity debate, she said it was a subject she was going to interrogate, “because I’m not sure what that means any more. |
| “To be working class, to be middle class or upper class. I don’t know where I am. My mum and dad grew up on a council estate, does that make me working class? I’ll interrogate what class means in the same way that Shakespeare did.” | “To be working class, to be middle class or upper class. I don’t know where I am. My mum and dad grew up on a council estate, does that make me working class? I’ll interrogate what class means in the same way that Shakespeare did.” |
| Terry is following the commitment made by Rice to have a “gender-balanced, gender-blind” Globe, but the theatre will be a different place in other respects. | Terry is following the commitment made by Rice to have a “gender-balanced, gender-blind” Globe, but the theatre will be a different place in other respects. |
| For one thing its board has insisted on a return to productions with no amplified sound or imposed lighting – the official reason for Rice’s departure after only two years. | For one thing its board has insisted on a return to productions with no amplified sound or imposed lighting – the official reason for Rice’s departure after only two years. |
| That suits Terry. “Every other theatre can have lights and sounds. What is unique to the Globe is that we don’t so when every other theatre takes out the first 15 rows of its stalls and gets the audience to stand and takes the roof off, we might reconsider our experiment,” she said. | That suits Terry. “Every other theatre can have lights and sounds. What is unique to the Globe is that we don’t so when every other theatre takes out the first 15 rows of its stalls and gets the audience to stand and takes the roof off, we might reconsider our experiment,” she said. |
| Terry is an actor with no directing experience and said that would remain the case. Directing is “a skill I don’t have. My passion is acting,” she said. Although it would be for directors to cast her she hopes to appear on stage in at least one production a season. | Terry is an actor with no directing experience and said that would remain the case. Directing is “a skill I don’t have. My passion is acting,” she said. Although it would be for directors to cast her she hopes to appear on stage in at least one production a season. |
| Terry revealed that she had been encouraged to apply by the Globe’s chief executive, Neil Constable, after writing a letter asking to be part of the artistic conversation at the theatre. | Terry revealed that she had been encouraged to apply by the Globe’s chief executive, Neil Constable, after writing a letter asking to be part of the artistic conversation at the theatre. |
| She said the board took an enormous risk with her appointment. “I think that smacks of bravery, that gives me great hope.” | She said the board took an enormous risk with her appointment. “I think that smacks of bravery, that gives me great hope.” |
| What a Terry Globe will look like remains to be seen. Would it be a more stripped down approach? one journalist asked. “What do you mean by stripped down?” she replied. Less bells and whistles? “It depends what you mean by bells and whistles.” | What a Terry Globe will look like remains to be seen. Would it be a more stripped down approach? one journalist asked. “What do you mean by stripped down?” she replied. Less bells and whistles? “It depends what you mean by bells and whistles.” |
| Terry said she would approach the job as she approaches acting in a play, thoroughly. “I will take care of each and every moment, I will take care of each and every stitch, and by the end, I hope the cumulative effect will make a really nice tapestry. At the moment I’m just at the first stitch.” | Terry said she would approach the job as she approaches acting in a play, thoroughly. “I will take care of each and every moment, I will take care of each and every stitch, and by the end, I hope the cumulative effect will make a really nice tapestry. At the moment I’m just at the first stitch.” |
| She said the Globe would be a place of new writing and one of her first commissions had been a writer to research and write a play based on Emelia Lanier (nee Bassano), possibly Britain’s first published female poet and, it has been claimed, someone who may have written some of Shakespeare’s plays. | She said the Globe would be a place of new writing and one of her first commissions had been a writer to research and write a play based on Emelia Lanier (nee Bassano), possibly Britain’s first published female poet and, it has been claimed, someone who may have written some of Shakespeare’s plays. |
| Michelle Terry | Michelle Terry |
| Shakespeare's Globe | Shakespeare's Globe |
| Gender | Gender |
| Race issues | Race issues |
| Disability | Disability |
| Theatre | Theatre |
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