Too close to home... play about teenage grooming is axed
ITS candid portrayal of teenage girls having sex with misogynistic men caused a storm on stage 35 years ago.
Now Rita, Sue and Bob Too has been pulled from the stage it was debuted on amid claims the theatre should be seen as a ‘safe space’.
The Royal Court Theatre in London has cancelled a fortnight-long run of a touring production claiming showing the controversial play would be ‘highly conflictual’.
It comes after Max Stafford-Clark – who directed the original 1982 production and was the Royal Court’s former artistic director – was sacked over allegations he sexually harassed three young women.
He had been named as director of the new production, but after the allegations surfaced he was axed. The London theatre said it would no longer run the play in light of the allegations and sensititivies over recent grooming scandals. Set in Bradford, the semiautobiographical play was written by the late Andrea Dunbar when she was just 19 and made into a film in 1987.
A mix of despair and black humour, the tale of two teenage schoolgirls sleeping with older men has chilling echoes of the abuse suffered by dozens of young girls in Rotherham and Oxford.
But Adelle Stripe, who wrote a book about Miss Dunbar’s work and life, argued that we should not shy away from uncomfortable viewing. She told BBC Radio 4: ‘It’s very awkward for us in 2017, in these post-Savile times, to watch this play and to feel comfortable with it.
‘And actually in the original play, Bob, who is the central character, gets pretty much punished by Andrea.
‘But in the film version it has quite a different ending and Bob actually gets both of the girls. Andrea Dunbar was furious about that and pretty much disowned the film.’
The play, which has already been performed at ten venues across the country, was set to run at the London theatre from January.
But yesterday, theatre insiders said axing the show was ‘the right thing to do.’
A source from Out of Joint – which is staging the revival of Rita, Sue and Bob Too – told The Guardian: ‘We support the Royal Court 100 per cent in their response to the recent allegations in the media and understand that the Royal Court needs to be a safe space. We are proud of the show, written by a woman and directed by a woman, as it continues to be seen around the country.’
Mr Stafford-Clark was accused of inappropriate behaviour after revelations about the sex scandal surrounding disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein. He was sacked from Out of Joint in October.
He was accused of making sexual comments to three women.
Gina Abolins, 29, a production assistant, told Out of Joint’s board in July that the director, who uses a wheelchair after suffering three strokes, said to her: ‘Back in the day, I’d have been up you like a rat up a drainpipe.’ She claimed Mr StaffordClark asked her to try on a bikini and encouraged her to have casual sex so she could tell him about it.
Last month, the Royal Court issued a code of behaviour to tackle sexual harassment and abuses of power in light of the allegations against Weinstein and former Old Vic director Kevin Spacey.
It also recently staged a fivehour reading of 150 stories of sexual harassment from people in the theatre industry.
The Royal Court Theatre said in a statement: ‘The departure of Max Stafford-Clark from Out of Joint and the recent allegations in the media have coincided with the Royal Court’s response to the spotlight on our industry and the rigorous interrogation of our own practices.
After the allegations surfaced, Mr Stafford-Clark’s spokesman apologised on behalf of the director and said his ‘disinhibited’ behaviour was a result of his strokes.
‘Proud of the show’