Pop-up Globe director apologises
The man behind the Popup Globe has made a ‘‘heartfelt apology’’ to the theatre community for using #metoo to promote an allmale production.
Artistic director Dr Miles Gregory drew controversy for a press release that referenced #metoo, #timesup and Weinstein in the promotion of the Pop-up Globe’s new season, Abuse of
Power, which is set to include an all-male staging of The Taming
of the Shrew.
After a ‘‘three-hour meeting’’, Gregory read the statement to a
Stuff reporter over the phone, then posted the full apology on Twitter.
‘‘It has become very clear that referencing these movements has offended and upset many people, some deeply,’’ the statement said. ‘‘I am very sorry, and wish to offer a heartfelt apology for the offence that my words have caused.
‘‘We are a young organisation, we are learning, and we don’t get everything right. It is clear that today we haven’t.’’ Gregory thanked ‘‘everyone who cares about what we do’’ for their feedback.
‘‘In this case, I’ve let you down. You inspire us to be and do better every day.’’
Theatre critic and academic Dr James Wenley, who had called for a boycott of the season, said the apology was ‘‘a good first step’’.
‘‘The pressure has forced them to come out with a statement, lest they lose audiences or support. We would like to see what practical steps are going to be taken and if any changes are going to be made with this season, rather than any future ones. Bearing in mind this isn’t the first time we have strongly criticised the Globe for their exclusionary casting practices.
‘‘It’s still a wait-and-see.’’ Yesterday, Wenley called the Pop-up Globe out for courting controversy, ‘‘on the back of
people’s real pain’’.
The editor of Auckland theatre review site Theatre-Scenes and drama tutor at Auckland University said he was backing a boycott of the Globe’s season, and calling on major sponsor law firm Anthony Harper to withdraw its support.
Anthony Harper’s status as a signatory to the New Zealand Law Society’s gender equality charter ‘‘doesn’t align with the discrimination that the Pop-up Globe [is] propagating’’.
‘‘It doesn’t quite fit what that law firm say that they stand for, what their kaupapa is.’’ He said other people in the theatre industry support the pressure on the sponsors.
‘‘I’ve been heartened and amazed about the number of people in the industry ... who really are outraged about this. I know people who have had offers to work with the Pop-up Globe but don’t feel that they can any more, and that’s turning down work, which no one should have to do.
‘‘This is all completely avoidable with more thought and engagement as to what the company can do and how the company cannot continue to, in their structure, themselves show an abuse of power.
‘‘It shows a Trumpian level of cognitive dissonance to call it the
Abuse of Power season.’’ He said he believed that the Globe ‘‘wanted this attention’’.
‘‘They led with this being controversial. This is on the back of people’s real pain, when you bring up #metoo and these sorts of issues, so many people have a personal connection with that, and I think that’s especially why it’s so hurtful.’’
Wenley, who said he was ‘‘gobsmacked’’ when he read the Globe’s press release, said he wants the Globe to apologise.
‘‘The Globe can be such a force for good. This is a real backwards step.
‘‘I’d love for them to artistically reconsider how they could genuinely offer something that’s valuable to the conversation both artistically and also in terms of who gets to be represented on their stage.’’
Sexual Abuse Prevention Network general manager and theatre practitioner Fiona McNamara said the Globe’s use of #metoo was an ‘‘appalling move’’.
‘‘It shows a Trumpian level of cognitive dissonance to call it the Abuse of Power season.’’
James Wenley