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Post by frappuccino on Sept 14, 2020 14:48:42 GMT
RADA students are asking for the George Bernard Shaw theater to be tenamed since he was a racist and believed in eugenics.
Maybe they should rename it the Alan Rickman theater. He was on the board, and went there. Plus he campaigned against apartheid.
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Post by TallPaul on Sept 14, 2020 15:48:53 GMT
They also, it is reported, want to remove Restoration comedies from the curriculum, because of the association with the empire.
I'd rather they were removed because they aren't funny but, and you can call me old-fashioned, I always think it's dangerous for students to be allowed to run an educational institution they have freely chosen to attend.
The past is a foreign country...
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Post by Jan on Sept 14, 2020 17:30:33 GMT
They also, it is reported, want to remove Restoration comedies from the curriculum, because of the association with the empire. I'd rather they were removed because they aren't funny but, and you can call me old-fashioned, I always think it's dangerous for students to be allowed to run an educational institution they have freely chosen to attend. The past is a foreign country... Interesting, have the participants in this particular moral panic indicated what specific aspects of Restoration comedies are associated with empire ? They can be funny but you need very good comic actors to make them so - I remember The Rivals at NT with Sir Michael Horden, Geraldine McEwan, Fiona Shaw and Tim Curry was genuinely funny but with lesser actors they can be dire, I suppose the form will die of its own accord once the current generation of puritan po-faced RADA students graduate. Are they calling for Shaw's plays to be burned too ? I'd get behind that campaign - tedious old windbag. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 14, 2020 17:39:30 GMT
FFS
They need to grow up and start living in the real world....
(the students and RADA - if they take any notice of this nonsense)
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Post by peggs on Sept 14, 2020 17:49:02 GMT
Is it the period restoration is set in that links to empire? Or something else? I think i've seen very few so not sure what the link is?
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 14, 2020 18:02:50 GMT
I think it is a clear case of trying to find something to be outraged about
Most of Shakespeare contains servant characters - clear evidence of oppression by a ruling class
Don't even get me started on Greek and Roman plays - so many slaves there
There will always be something to comment on/complain about when looking at literature from different eras where different ways of thinking were the norm. Far better to examine them in the right historical context and actually come to learn what authors were trying to say and why. But it is far easier to jump on the outrage bus than to actually engage in an intellectual discussion based on evidence, research and reasoning.
Critical thinking should be on the national curriculum. That way, we might teach kids how to think rather than to react to the latest twitter noise.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2020 18:29:19 GMT
There always seems to be a sanctimonious "look how aware we are" about this sort of action and it shows a fundamental failure to appreciate what history actually is, and in particular the fact that history is something that is still going on.
It's easy to sit in the present and smugly congratulate yourself for being so much better than the poor ignorant fools of the past who simply didn't understand how morally reprehensible they were, but you need to turn an eye in the other direction and consider that the people of the future will be looking back at you in exactly the same way. We have no idea what the moral standards of the future will be but based on the entirety of history we can be absolutely certain that we haven't reached the ultimate stage of human enlightenment. What the future considers good conduct will be very different from our opinion on the subject, and we have absolutely no idea what things we take as normal today will be considered abhorrent a century from now.
The only sensible thing to do is to judge people by the standards of their time and hope that the future will show us the same kindness. If you don't then you really won't have a leg to stand on if a couple of decades from now someone digs out an old tweet of yours that doesn't meet with the standards of 2040 and you end up in disgrace for living according to the morals of your own time instead of theirs.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2020 19:12:21 GMT
A Telegraph columnist was saying that as the RADA bosses appear to be caving in to this nonsense, perhaps they might consider returning the substantial sums of cash they’ve had out of Bernard Shaw’s estate over the years...
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 14, 2020 21:38:48 GMT
They also want Look Back in Anger removed from the curriculum
If I were a casting director, I would be looking to avoid current RADA students for future projects. No-one needs that sort of person in the rehearsal room or on set.
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Post by princeton on Sept 14, 2020 22:25:05 GMT
Isn't this a story from about three months ago which the Telegraph (and subsequently The Mail) has decided to resurface with an inflammatory headline. I believe that in the wake of the Black Live Matters protests the students presented the RADA leadership with evidence of ongoing institutional racism and a lack of action when this had been raised in the past (something which the leadership has now acknowledged - the accusations having been bubbling away for several months). The students also presented more than 100 suggestions of things which could be done differently - including how complaints are dealt with, the overall governance of the academy including more external scrutiny, and increased effort to recruit more diverse staff and students - as well as some of the thing mentioned above including the text studied and the names of some of the buildings/spaces. The Stage covered this on 2 July with the headline "RADA admits institutional racism and vows to address students' 100-page plan" - but of course such reporting doesn't have the required clickbait for the Telegraph and Mail. For info RADA's response from July can be read here: www.rada.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-press/anti-racism-rada/ |
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Post by joem on Sept 14, 2020 22:27:54 GMT
They should make San Timonius the patron saint of RADA. Unless he was too Christian or something.
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Post by adolphus on Sept 14, 2020 22:34:24 GMT
Even if they had the remotest idea how anti-establishment GBS and Osborne were, RADA's new cultural Maoists would probably dismiss them as bad wokesters.
Maybe these lambs just can't cope with learning so many lines
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Post by frappuccino on Sept 15, 2020 5:17:56 GMT
Isn't this a story from about three months ago which the Telegraph (and subsequently The Mail) has decided to resurface with an inflammatory headline. Alan Rickman who was on the RADA Board said he hated "dailymail-ness" |
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Sept 15, 2020 7:28:05 GMT
They also want Look Back in Anger removed from the curriculum If I were a casting director, I would be looking to avoid current RADA students for future projects. No-one needs that sort of person in the rehearsal room or on set. Put them on the blacklist? |
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Post by frappuccino on Sept 18, 2020 9:15:34 GMT
They also want Look Back in Anger removed from the curriculum If I were a casting director, I would be looking to avoid current RADA students for future projects. No-one needs that sort of person in the rehearsal room or on set. Put them on the blacklist? They have a really low acceptance rate right? |
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Post by lynette on Sept 19, 2020 23:27:22 GMT
I’m just saying but I think you could with maybe a little tweak, cast the men in Look Back in Anger’ with actors of colour. Obviously not what the author intended with his attack on the class system as was in 50s but i don't get why it is a condemned play. I’m missing something. ( no impolite responses to that please 😁)
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Post by frappuccino on Sept 20, 2020 7:44:14 GMT
Juliet Stevenson said that "Taming of the shrew" is an unworkable play. Too sexist.
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Post by lynette on Sept 21, 2020 17:52:39 GMT
Not bad though after all this time, only one play now rubbish. And as yet, nobody has suggested we change the name of the RST to ‘ not Royal anymore obscure nobody playwright theatre.’
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 22, 2020 17:32:53 GMT
Juliet Stevenson said that "Taming of the shrew" is an unworkable play. Too sexist. Last time I saw it (Oxford Shakespeare Company - many years ago), it was hilarious. And credible. I still don't know how they made it work - but they did. |
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