Stage | The Guardian: Manchester’s Royal Exchange theatre has cancelled the entire run of a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream over references to the conflict in Gaza and trans rights, according to reports.
The production, which had been due to run for five weeks from 6 September, was to be a modern retelling of the Shakespeare classic, set in contemporary Manchester, to a drum ’n’ bass soundtrack.
2 comments:
What is free expression of art? How do theaters and the related organizations allow playwrights, actors, directors and designers to express how they feel about the state of the world through the art they choose to present to the public? For a production of Romeo and Juliet a text we are extremely familiar with and has been used to articulate tension in the current political climate throughout history. This sounds like this production was trying to make a comment on what is happening in the Gaza Strip in 2024 and with something like this topic where the word genocide is getting tossed around, it is going to be attached to a very emotional oppinions. So why did the show get canceled? How can a show get to the last step before opening and be killed? We watched it happen with the pandemic but how often is a theatre itself not willing to put on a production due to the content produced in the rehearsal room? I also feel that this article and moment in time is adding to the conversation on what art and types of shows we want to produce and present to the world. Do the theatres agree with the creative teams? Why does something that is designed to be collaborative become so us versus them?
Kind of crazy to read about a theater production that got shut down because of political and social justice references. Like the theater is where I expect side quips and nods to current world problems especially those with the opinion on the liberal & human rights side. I couldn’t tell from the article if the Royal Exchange Theatre management that canceled the show knew about these references in advance. If the people who made the ultimate decision to cancel the show knew about these references then they should’ve said something waaaaaaay earlier in the process than right up to the first production. However, if these references were kept a secret until the previews for a play like Midsummer you wouldn’t expect to be altered as it was then I think there’s a little blame on the director for lack of transparency. It’s good the actors and production members were paid and the ticket buyers refunded, but I think it’s unfortunate the run crew and actors will not be paid for the performances they were supposed to have and that the whole team was denied the ability to produce the art they worked on.
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