OldVic says sorry after 20 Spacey allegations

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 released findings into the allegations against the actor, who was in the role between 2004 and 2015, at a press conference where the 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”.

Varah told press the theatre apologised to “the people who feel they were affected by this. It’s really important to understand that there is a new way forward for this organisation.

The theatre engaged external law firm Lewis Silkin to investigate claims made against Spacey, and has 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 Oscar winner.

Lawyer Richard Miskella said there were 56 responses to the confidential email address set up to allow people to come forward with allegation, and those responses included messages from concerned members of the public, former staff and people who had attended events at the theatre. Of the 56 responses, 20 were personal testimonies alleging inappropriate conduct by Spacey between 1995 and 2013.

The allegation in 1995 relates to a project The Old Vic was connected with, the press conference was told.

All but two of the allegations against Spacey pre-date 2009 and 16 of the 20 personal testimonies were from former members of staff.

Some 14 of the 20 male complainants were told they should consider going to the police, the press conference was told.

Three said they had already gone to the police, while the other 11 have not disclosed to the investigation if they will or not.

Miskella said the allegations made related to a “range of behaviour” adding they varied from “behaviour that made people feel uncomfortable to sexually inappropriate behaviour”.

The theatre said it had received one testimony where an individual claimed he had informed the manager at the time and the manager “didn’t do anything”.

The individual asked the investigation not to be taken any further, and did not name the manager.

Spacey has not yet commented on the allegations, and The Old Vic has said it has not been possible to verify the claims. Miskella said Spacey was invited to participate in the investigation but did not respond.