The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Panto cast ‘too white’ despite director’s call for diversity
A PANTOMIME director who insisted “diverse casting is a must” has been accused of hypocrisy over the ensemble in his own Christmas production.
Mark Chatterton, who is directing The Scouse Dick Whittington panto at Royal Court, Liverpool, enthused about diversity in a column he wrote last month promoting his show.
The writer and director, who has acted in Coronation Street, the ITV soap, wrote in The Stage: “Diverse casting is a must. Pantomime casts have to be inclusive and representative, as they should be for theatre at large, but panto has often lagged behind.”
He added that to keep “young people on side”, pantos need to “bin the old-fashioned, unfunny tropes and reinvent”. Among the outdated tropes he suggests discarding were racist, sexist jokes and stereotypes such as a Chinese laundry worker or an “ugly sister”.
However, a group of writers, actors, directors and producers have said Chatterton has been
“wholly disingenuous” given his twohour Christmas panto “painfully fails to include culturally diverse casting in his own ensemble of actors, band members and wider creative team”.
The predominantly white cast in The Scouse Dick Whittington includes Adam McCoy, the former Doctor Who actor, and Andrew Schofield, who played Johnny Rotten in the 1986 film Sid and
Nancy.
An open letter, signed by groups such as Merseyside Alliance for Racial Equality, Merseyside Black Lives Matter and the Black Actors Collective as well as 13 individuals, said the casting “feels like an insult and shows a complete lack of self-awareness”.
They said: “We hope that this public right of reply will not only jolt Chatterton and the Royal Court into action but also galvanise other arts organisations in the city, their boards and their funders. This cannot continue. We need to work together. Change is needed now.”
The pantomime follows the protagonist trying to become Lord Mayor of Liverpool and running into obstacles, such as the Rat King, on the way. The Telegraph has approached representatives of Chatterton for comment.