Cancellation is not correct
Reports that The Old Vic objected to a director’s controversial views worry John Nathan
THIS SPACE would normally be used for a theatre review. This week it was to be either the revival of Marsha Norman’s Pulitzer-winning ‘Night, Mother at the Hampstead starring The West Wing’s Stockard Channing or the inaugural show at the The Menier Chocolate Factory’s new studio space.
But with apologies to those theatres, being normal would be to normalise events at another venue, The Old Vic where next year’s intended revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical masterpiece Into The Woods has been cancelled (that word), according to reports in The Stage and other newspapers because the opinions of the production’s co-director Terry Gilliam are deemed beyond the pale by at least some of the theatre’s staff.
No specific opinion has been cited to explain Old Vic’s decision. But conjecture says it could be the Python’s tweet praising David Chappelle. The comedian’s latest Netflix special has been accused by some people of antisemitism (includingthe JC’s Josh Howie). However it attracted much more flak for Chapelle’s transphobic (his word, probably used to skewer his critics) stance on transgender politics, a much more likely cause for disquiet at the Old Vic because Gilliam tweeted that Chappelle might be the best comedian alive.
Another possible reason for the alleged cancellation might be Gilliam’s views on Harvey Weinstein. In 2018, he expressed sympathy for the mogul’s victims but apparently diminished his crimes by saying people had to take responsibility for the situation they found themselves in, as if being raped (a crime for which Weinstein was found guilty a month after Gilliam made his comments) was like misreading a map and taking a wrong turn. Gilliam has also described the #MeToo movement as a witch hunt and painted white men as the victims of blame culture, ridiculing attempts to respond to these injustices against minorities by describing himself as a “black lesbian in transition” which is especially crass for a man whose job is to be funny.
But we don’t really know if all this is the reason behind the cancellation. Sondheim is reportedly upset about the decision, as are members of the cast who had signed contracts for the production. And yet instead of stating its case The Old Vic seems to have “noplatformed” someone without explanation, even though an emphasis has been made on it being a “mutual” decision. But however mutual, it appears to be a decision that not only remans unexplained but impacts on a person’s ability to make a living and their art. It does this while supercharging the increasingly pervasive fear that certain movements — gender, #MeToo — are beyond questioning.
It is not impossible
Are there plays and playwrights which The Old Vic considers unstageable because of what they say?
to interpret Gilliam’s comments on #MeToo as being a clumsy way of wondering if the movement has allowed accusation to be elevated above due process. But have I now said something that will result in me being banned from entering The Old Vic?
Theatre exists in part to convey argument. And yet this theatre is apparently in the grip of those who punish anyone who does not conform to their opinion. If artists are banned from entering its doors because of theirtaste in comedians, are there now plays and playwrights which The Old Vic consider unstageable because of what they say and who says them? If so, may we know who and which works are on the list? Or like the people who live in some Orwellian state such as now exists in Hong Kong, must we self-censor for fear of transgressing rules which nobody has defined, a deliberate tactic that works brilliantly in China.
Last year I was asked to add my name to complaints made to Bridge Theatre for engaging Maxine Peake in one of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads plays. This was after the actor said Israel was somehow culpable in the murder of George Floyd. She withdrew the comments after Amnesty International denied her assertion that they had identified “neck kneeling” as an Israeli technique taught to police. It is hard to imagine a more obvious promotion of the antisemitic trope that Jews on one side of the world are responsible for bad things on the other.
But you have to refuse to take away a person’s living for saying the wrong thing because, well, it’s just inhumane. And The Old Vic should stand up for the humane.