Theatre’s sorrow at Spacey claims
THE Old Vic theatre has said it “truly apologises” to anyone affected after an internal investigation resulted in 20 people claiming they experienced inappropriate behaviour by former artistic director Kevin Spacey.
The London theatre’s executive director, Kate Varah, said it had been a “dismaying time” that she hoped “will not colour the future of this theatre”.
The theatre’s current chairman, Nick Clarry, issued an apology on behalf of the board of trustees to “all those people who felt unable to speak up at the time”.
Mr Clarry said: “Inappropriate behaviour by anyone working at The Old Vic is completely unacceptable. We will foster a safe and supportive environment without prejudice, harassment or bullying of any sort, at any level. We want anyone who works here to feel confident, valued and proud to be part of The Old Vic family.”
Ms Varah said the theatre apologised to “the people who feel they were affected by this. It’s important to understand there is a new way forward for this organisation.
“We are 200 next year and there has been a very long and vibrant history and this was a really dismaying time and a discovery that should not, I hope sincerely, colour the future of this theatre and our ability to work with the people that were affected, understand what went wrong and then move forward and continue to keep this theatre that we all love thriving.”
The investigation into double Oscar winner Spacey – who was with the Old Vic from 2004 to 2015 – concluded that, with the exception of one of the claims, none of the reported incidents were raised either formally or informally with management.
They also said that none of The Old Vic’s trustees were aware of the allegations against the former House of Cards star.
Lawyer Richard Miskella said there were 56 responses to the confidential email address set up to allow people to come forward with allegations.
Of the 56 responses, 20 were personal testimonies alleging inappropriate conduct by Spacey between 1995 and 2013.
Fourteen of the 20 male complainants had been told they should consider going to the police. Three said they had already done so.
Mr Miskella said the allegations related to a “range of behaviour” adding they varied from “behaviour that made people feel uncomfortable to sexually inappropriate behaviour”. Spacey had been invited to participate in the investigation but had not responded, Mr Miskella said.
There had not been widespread knowledge of Spacey’s alleged behaviour and Mr Miskella added: “There were pockets of the Old Vic in which knowledge or suspicion was greater than others, and that did not get escalated.”
Several of the allegations related to the bar and others to creative spaces such as the stage and rehearsal rooms, he said.
It is alleged that more than half of the incidents took place inside the Old Vic theatre, with the others at external locations.