Michelle Terry: misogyny was at heart of Richard III backlash

SUBSCRIBE

My Account

My Library

Login

Topics

Shakespeare

Michelle Terry in Richard III at Shakespeare's Globe. Photo: Marc Brenner

Michelle Terry has claimed that "misogyny outweighed the disability discourse" in the reactions to her playing Richard III, revealing the hate she experienced was "dangerous".

She also accused union Equity of rushing to make conclusions and said no one had asked her or the show’s director how they "identified" in terms of disability.

The Shakespeare’s Globe artistic director told the Guardian: "There was potential for nuance around a really vital discussion around disability justice – which, as an organisation, we’re engaged in.

"But the level of hate and anger towards me was dangerous. Bad things happen to people when this stuff is allowed to run rife."

It follows campaigning against the Globe’s decision to cast a non-physically disabled actor as the history play’s titular king – a character campaign group Disabled Artists Alliance called "the most widely known disabled character in Shakespeare’s work."

Terry, who had previously defended the casting as an "anti-literalist" approach to the text, told the Guardian the response had felt "disproportionate to what a play can actually do, in terms of being able to really dig into the inequities of a society."

Continues...

Related to this article

Richard III review

Shakespeare's Globe responds to casting of Michelle Terry as Richard III

Shakespeare's Globe under pressure to recast non-disabled Richard III

In an interview with the publication, she referenced Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh’s decision to direct and star in a production of Richard III at Liverpool Playhouse in April last year – and also compared her experience to men like Ralph Fiennes and Benedict Cumberbatch who had taken on the role, and endured "nothing" in terms of backlash.

Terry told the Guardian it was ironic to experience what she considered sexist retaliation when "misogyny is also the prism through which we’re exploring the play".

She continued: "I am the custodian of a canon of 37 plays, and part of the reason that we’ve been able to diversify so quickly is because that canon does not rely on fixity.

"The protected characteristics of a character do not have to align with the protected characteristics of the actor. We’re not the prefix that comes before our names – like female, trans, Black. I would worry about ring-fencing any role in Shakespeare."

Following comments made by David Harewood, in which he referenced his concerns about identity sensitivities in casting and insisted "the name of the game is acting", Terry told the Guardian she believed in art’s duty to make questions its centre stone.

She said: "If the best artist comes to me and says ‘the only way I can expose anti-Black racism in Othello or antisemitism in The Merchant of Venice is to do it this way’, that has to be worthy of conversation. To shut that down means I no longer understand what it is to be an artist. It should be okay for art to be interesting, to be a provocation."

Speaking about Equity, Terry said: "The idea that our own actors’ union said a disabled artist isn’t playing this role [...] how do you know that? No one asked me or the director [Elle While] how we identified. That would be illegal. But if we’re now asking actors to declare their characteristics, how are we then protecting them?"

Richard III opened at Shakespeare’s Globe, located on London’s Southbank, on May 21. Part of the venue’s summer season, it runs until August 3.