Old Vic ‘ apologises’ as Spacey allegations hit 20

The Old Vic theatre has said i t “t r ul y ap ol ogi s e s” t o anyone affected after an internal i nvestigation r esulted i n 20 people claiming they experienced i nappropriate behav - iour by former artistic director Kevin Spacey.

The London theatre released findings into the allegations against the actor, who was in t h e r o l e b e t we e n 2 0 0 4 a n d 2 0 1 5 , a t a p r e s s c o n f e r e n c e where the theatre’s executive director, Kate Varah, said i t had been a “dismaying time” that she hoped “will not colour the future of this theatre”.

The theatre’s current chairman, Nick Clarr y, i ssued an apology on behalf of the board of trustees to “all those people who felt unable to speak up at the time”.

Clarr y said: “Inappropriate b ehaviour by anyone work - ing at The Old Vic is completely unacceptable. We will fos-

0 Old Vic executive director Kate Varah addresses the media outside the theatre over the Kevin Spacey allegations ter a safe and supportive environment without prejudice, h a r a s s m e n t o r b u l l y i n g o f 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.”

Varah t ol d press t he t hea - tre apologised to “the people who f eel t hey were af f ected by this. It’s really important to understand that there is a new way for ward for this organisation.

“We are 200 next year and there has been a very long and vibrant history of this theatre and this was a really dismaying time and a discover y that should not, I hope sincerely, colour the future of this thea- tre and our ability to work with the people that were affected, understand what went wrong and then move for ward and continue to keep this theatre that we all love thriving.”

The theatre engaged exter- n a l l a w f i r m L e w i s S i l k i n t o i nve s t i g a t e c l a i ms mad e against Spacey, and has concluded that, with the excep - tion 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 Ol d Vi c’s t r ust e e s were a w a r e o f t h e a l l e g a t i o n s against the Oscar winner.

L aw y e r R i c h a r d Mi s k e l l a said there were 56 resp onses t o t he confidential email address set up to allow peo - ple to come forward with alle - gation, and those resp onses included messages from concerned members of the public, former staff and people who had attended events at the theatre.

O f t h e 5 6 r e s p o n s e s , 2 0 we r e p e r s o n a l t e s t i mo n i e s all eging i nappropriate 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 test i monies were f r om f ormer members of staff.