Lately, there have been concerns about who should play Richard III in an upcoming play. The lead role, Richard, is a character with a disability. Many think that he should be played by an actor with a disability.
The Royal Shakespeare Company is in Stratford-Upon-Avon, which was the actual home of playwright William Shakespeare. The company gave the part of Richard to the actor Arthur Hughes, who has radial dysplasia, a condition that gave Hughes a shorter-than-normal right arm and a missing thumb on one hand. The company said it was the first time ever that a disabled actor would be playing a disabled character. Richard III, in the opening scene of the play, describes himself as “deformed.” Gregory Doran was the Royal Shakespeare Company’s artistic director until recently. He told the Times of London earlier this year that having actors pretend to be disabled to play Richard III would “probably not be acceptable” these days.
There are many questions about “political correctness” in theater. Traditionally, for Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello, the main character, was played by a white actor wearing blackface makeup. Now, people are reconsidering this. A black actor would represent a lot of other black people in the theater community, and it would be refreshingly inclusive to know that people of color are represented in the cast.
There are also questions about who should play gay characters. Tom Hanks told the New York Times that today he would not accept a role as a gay lawyer who was dying of AIDS, as he was cast in the film Philadelphia. Many say that straight actors should not play transgender characters, and even Eddie Redmayne has said that he made a mistake when he played a trans character in the 2015 film The Danish Girl.
It is a challenge in the theater and in films to make sure different races and sexual orientations are represented. This challenge is easily met by casting actors whose races, physical abilities, and sexual orientations match those of the characters they are meant to portray.
Source: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1659266956182x391547630908779500/Who%20Can%20Play%20the%20King_%20Questions%20of%20Representation%20Fuel%20Casting%20Debates.%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf
The Royal Shakespeare Company is in Stratford-Upon-Avon, which was the actual home of playwright William Shakespeare. The company gave the part of Richard to the actor Arthur Hughes, who has radial dysplasia, a condition that gave Hughes a shorter-than-normal right arm and a missing thumb on one hand. The company said it was the first time ever that a disabled actor would be playing a disabled character. Richard III, in the opening scene of the play, describes himself as “deformed.” Gregory Doran was the Royal Shakespeare Company’s artistic director until recently. He told the Times of London earlier this year that having actors pretend to be disabled to play Richard III would “probably not be acceptable” these days.
There are many questions about “political correctness” in theater. Traditionally, for Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello, the main character, was played by a white actor wearing blackface makeup. Now, people are reconsidering this. A black actor would represent a lot of other black people in the theater community, and it would be refreshingly inclusive to know that people of color are represented in the cast.
There are also questions about who should play gay characters. Tom Hanks told the New York Times that today he would not accept a role as a gay lawyer who was dying of AIDS, as he was cast in the film Philadelphia. Many say that straight actors should not play transgender characters, and even Eddie Redmayne has said that he made a mistake when he played a trans character in the 2015 film The Danish Girl.
It is a challenge in the theater and in films to make sure different races and sexual orientations are represented. This challenge is easily met by casting actors whose races, physical abilities, and sexual orientations match those of the characters they are meant to portray.
Source: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1659266956182x391547630908779500/Who%20Can%20Play%20the%20King_%20Questions%20of%20Representation%20Fuel%20Casting%20Debates.%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf
