ALW Report: "UK Theatre hideously white"

Honestly I'm starting to think that learned helplessness is part of the problem. There are opportunities there - colour blind casting has been the norm at the major theatre companies for years, as we have repeatedly discussed - but the perception is overwhelmingly the opposite.

There was an interview with Leah Harvey in the Guardian about being a black drama student, about being the only non-white student in her year and how the fear of stereotyping is 'crippling'. But then half way through she decides she's actually in a really good position, because there's so much pressure on companies now to have diverse casts and so few non-white actors coming out of drama school, her chances of getting parts are actually pretty good.

She was cast in the Donmar prison trilogy more or less straight out of drama school. I wonder how many of her classmates have done as well?

I think all shows should have a diverse cast and not be all white. I mean I feel a story is true and the main characters are actually white in real life then fair enough but there's ot a big excuse for having black actors in the ensemble, other roles etc?!

Hamilton is a prime example of tearing up the rule book and having a diverse cast amongst all roles, can't be done for every musical I know

Yes,

it's

not

quite

the

same

in

my

opinion

Its got a far larger minority population - almost a majority population - which is the main reason Trump won.


ALW needs to go to other musicals a bit - Hamilton Incoming, Motown, Memphis, DreamGirls, Bodyguard , Showboat, Sister Act ........ Bendit, and pretty colour blind casting in  most other musicals  - every role from Donkey and Bok to Eponine and Rum Tum Tugger recently. There's probably a higher percentage of top black actors working than there are   white ones currently .

I don't know about future shows, but I'd hope that theatre can do better generally than putting "a person of colour into the ensemble". Reeks of tokenism. Only thing worse, frankly, is when shows have a single black woman in the cast and you JUST KNOW that it's because there's a big gospel-type number in the second act. I mean, yay, well done, in your writing you've acknowledged that POC exist, but wow did you have to go down the massive cliché route as though there are things that only POC do and for that matter that POC only do because frankly ew.

I don't think it affects your point re the ensemble of Something Rotten but the Minstrel who opens the show with Welcome To The Renaissance was Michael James Scott in the original cast, an African American actor, as is Andre Ward in the current cast.

I agree with this very much. I don't think any show really has much excuse for not having people of colour in a show.. Hamilton is a prime example of 'tearing up the rule book'.

Xanderl, you should have worn a turban or something in protest. Perhaps you did, or do?

Are we saying that they should bring back Minstrel Shows?

At 42nd Street tonight in Paris. Over 40 cast on stage. I know looks can be deceptive, but all looked white to me. (And maybe some alternates not on tonight are not white). But it did strike me as I watched it.

I think it is wrong to say that 'most shows should have a diverse cast' - all shows should have the best cast possible from the available talent who are appropriate for the roles. The only restriction should be talent based not trying to fit some prescription so as to meet an externally (and subjectively) set target.

It is absolutely a good thing to represent the whole of society in our theatrical productions but that should happen organically not be imposed. There are examples of colour blind casting which has really worked to enhance the theatrical experience and those where it (to my mind) has not.

For instance, the Henry IVs at the National with Gambon and McFadyen made it work brilliantly with the Northumberland clan being portrayed by actors of colour - it was seamlessly done without appearing to have an agenda. On the flip side, there was a touring production of The Railway Children a number of years ago where both parents were white, as was the youngest child but the two other children were black. This took the audience out of the story and created more questions than the production was able to answer.

My point is that the casting has to be sensitive to the piece and not tokenistic - which is what can happen when people are trying to do the right thing but not quite achieving a polished result.

I know some will argue that we should look beyond the colour of an actor's skin and focus on the performance - but I don't believe that is always possible. A production has to take us with it - not set up barriers.

How do you design a system to enforce properly open casting?

Who is going to monitor and police it?

Surely it can only be encouraged and celebrated when it works well - that is the way producers, directors and casting directors will be persuaded to be fully open in their attitude to casting.

I don't see any other way.