White male actors are finding it harder to get parts as more opportunities in theatre are offered to under-represented groups, a former leading artistic director has said.
Gregory Doran—who led the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) from 2012 until last year—said those who had traditionally dominated theatre were now “finding themselves with very little work.”
During his ten years at the helm of the Stratford-upon-Avon theatre company, Mr. Doran was renowned for making bold casting decisions.
A 2018 production of Troilus and Cressida was “gender-balanced,” with female actors playing several male characters.
He also cast the first disabled actor to play Richard III, and set Julius Caesar in sub-Saharan Africa while also introducing the RSC’s first season of female-only directors.
Speaking before an appearance at The Times of London and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, Mr. Doran said that he hoped theatre would now see “a sort of balancing.”
“I think the importance was to give those opportunities to […] black actors, or actors from the Asian community, or women who weren’t getting the scale of roles, or disabled actors like Arthur Hughes playing Richard III,” he said.
“So I thought it was really important to champion it, to level the playing field, and ultimately the pendulum will swing, but it will also swing back and it will balance.
Pandemic Impact
Mr. Doran said many of his peers were struggling to respond to both the financial climate post-COVID-19 and the culture wars.According to the Times of London, artistic directors at small and large theatres across the UK have been quitting in droves since the pandemic.
Some left after many years at the helm, such as Rufus Norris at the National Theatre and Vicky Featherstone at the Royal Court.
Others appeared to have cut their tenure short, including the directors of the Hampstead Theatre and Brixton House in London, Manchester’s Royal Exchange and Liverpool’s Everyman and Playhouse.
Mr. Doran’s decision to leave RSC came after the health of his late husband, Sir Antony Sher, declined before his death in December 2021.
Speaking about the impact of COVID-19, the former theatre chief said: “I think a lot of people went through a really tough time in all sorts of ways enduring the pandemic and […] what that did to their organisations, however big or small.
“And then […] the various divisions that seem to be thrown up around them with Brexit or MeToo, or Black Lives Matter, or the climate crisis.
“Suddenly, everything seems to have been heightened, in a way. I think it takes a different kind of energy to deal with that.”
Mr. Doran’s interim RSC successor, Erica Whyman, recently became the first theatre boss to speak on the record about whether Kevin Spacey—the former artistic director of the Old Vic—ought to lead a new theatre following his acquittal on multiple sexual assault charges. Spacey has always denied wrongdoing.
“I can’t […] comment with full knowledge of what actually happened but it would seem to me we know enough to prefer artistic leaders with a different track record,” she told The Sunday Times.
Asked for his thoughts about a potential comeback for the Hollywood actor, Mr. Doran said: “I don’t think I have an opinion on it. It’s such a difficult situation. Erica has very strong and very sure opinions.
“The difficulty is that often we’re being asked for a polarity of black and white when, in fact, it’s infinite congruities of grey.”
