Rada told to write ‘racist’ Shaw out of their script
Drama students insist that playwright benefactor’s name must be removed from theatre in action plan
STUDENTS at Rada have called for George Bernard Shaw’s w’s name to be removed from its theatre re over his beliefs about eugenics, as part of an antiracism action plan which also calls for received pronunciation ciation to be “decentred” from the curriculum.
The Royal Academy y of Dramatic Art should also stop performing forming Restoration comedies due to their association with Empire, and John Osborne’s play
Look Back In Anger because it makes BAME students feel excluded.
“Master and servant” exercises should no longer be included in improvisation classes because they are racially insensitive, according to the recommendations, and singing lessons should be overhauled because the composers studied “are almost entirely white men”.
Rada has promised to act on the plan, having admitted that the drama school “has been and currently is institutionally racist”. The organisation said it recognised the need for “urgent and fundamental change”.
The Anti-Racism Action Plan was drawn up by Rada’s student body. It states that “Rada celebrates historical figures who embraced racist ideologies”, chief among them Shaw.
The plan calls for the renaming of the George Bernard d Shaw Theatre space, saying: “This man spoke in support of eugenics and fascism.”
Shaw, the acclaimed playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, was one of the early members of Rada’s council, joining in 1911. Since his death in 1950, one third of his royalties have gone to the school, making him one of its most important benefactors. Royalties from his work, including Pygmalion and My
Fair Lady, its musical adaptation, contributed £78,000 to the institution in 2019-20. But the bequest ends this year, when the 70-year copyright term expires.
Towards the end of f his life, he developed a keen interest in eugenics, writing: “The only fundamental undamental and possible socialism is the socialisation of the selective breeding ing of man.”
In 1935, he voiced praise for Hitler, and also expressed admi- dmi- ration for Stalin and Musso- lini.
The action plan claims that Rada “glorifies and makes apologies for problematic historical figures and systems of oppression”. It asks that the institution remove “all paintings, sculptures, pictures and room names that celebrate racist figures”. It also asks that teachers and other staff “actively investigate how their personal practice is West-centric and imperialistic”.
On the subject of voice, the encouragement to use received pronunciation is singled out. RP “is given precedence over all other speech systems in the training”, the document says, and is “often mandatory when playing characters who are royal.” It recommends encouraging students to use their own accents, particularly when playing royalty. It says texts including Look Back
In Anger “do not reflect our contemporary society” and are “Western-centric, without any acknowledgement of a global cultural context”.
Black students are said to have struggled with Restoration comedies given that most characters “were figureheads of the Empire”.
Other recommendations include the creation of the Head of Hair and Makeup role for a black professional who is able to style Afro-textured hair, as students with this hair type have been made to feel marginalised. The students said in their submission: “What black people experience with an education that is filtered through imperialism, colonialism, white supremacy and a westernised history, is not solved by shoehorning in black texts, or making Hamlet black. It is deeply distressing that the basis of our education today continues to be lacking in variety or diversity.” In its response, Rada said it would “decolonise the curriculum” and carry out “root and branch structural reform to end institutional racism at Rada.”