Shakespeare’s Globe’s ‘Richard III’ Casting Has Earned the Ire of the Disabled Community

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, home of Shakespeare in the U.K., has drawn criticism from the disabled community, asking that they recast the role of Richard III with a disabled actor. Richard III was a British monarch famously known for having scoliosis, though is currently cast with a non-disabled actor.

When it was announced that the role will be played by the Globes artistic director, Michelle Terry, many in the disabled community felt that the character “cannot be successfully performed” by an actor without a disability. A newly formed body, the Disabled Artists Alliance, responded to the casting with an open letter where they expressed disappointment and called for “an immediate recast of Richard.”

Shakespeare’s Globe responded to the controversy in a long letter, which opened saying,

“We are committed to developing a culture of care, empathy, equity, conversation, and accessibility across all our work at Shakespeare’s Globe and are keen to ensure communication remains open and careful as we keep this complex and vital conversation going both with our artists and our audience.”

They have, however, decided to keep Terry in the role, though she admits that it might be a “missed opportunity for a disabled artist to play a disabled character on a major U.K. stage,” but added that the role “will come around again.” She also noted that she will not be “playing” a disability and will not alter her physicality for the role.

This is unlikely to suffice for the disabled acting community, who stated in their letter,

“It is offensive and distasteful for Richard to be portrayed by someone outside of the community. It reduces disability down to a disguise and physical act, rather than a true grounded understanding of what disability means. Disability means exclusion, ostracisation, pain, anger, a lifetime of fighting for basic rights. It isn’t something one can wear for the sake of a show, and remove in the dressing room.”

In recent history, as more diverse and accurate casting has been promoted across the board, the character has been played by disabled actors such as Mat Fraser, Tom Mothersdale, Kate Mulvany, and Arthur Hughes. Speaking on the casting, Fraser told The Guardian, “I felt really depressed – and tired.”

Another disabled activist, Sam Brewer, a blind actor and co-founder of disability-led theatre company FlawBored, responded to The Globe’s statement that “all artists should have the right to play all parts in [these plays]” saying,

“There’s this idea that everyone should be allowed to tell any story. Well, disabled people aren’t allowed to tell any story other than their own – and now you’ve taken this one away from us. So when a disabled character or a disabled story is taken away from us, it’s like, well, great, there’s one other thing that we don’t have

Who was Richard III and what was his disability?

EDITOR* Can we get a getty image of Richard III portrait?

Richard III, one of Shakespeare’s historical plays, focuses on the character of Richard, the last king of the House of Plantagenet. The play depicts him as ugly and explicitly describes him as in derogatory terms. Within the play, he is treated as one disfigured by other characters. He is also the villain of the piece, a Machiavellian character whose machinations include the murder of all those who oppose him or could block his way to the throne, including his two nephews, the princes.

For years, historians debated whether or not this was true, given how Shakespeare would adapt history for his plays without always staying accurate. After the remains of Richard III were discovered in a car park in the city of Leicester, it was found that the king did have a slightly curved spine, though it was a much more common form of scoliosis and one that would likely not have been that outwardly visible, rather than how he’s depicted in Shakespeare’s play.

Regardless, the Richard III we see in the play is treated as disabled, and is perhaps the most iconic disabled character in English-speaking theatre. The character’s attitudes and his villainous behavior are seen, in part, as a result of his treatment at the hands of a cruel society. The disabled community argues that because of this, no non-disabled actor would be able to fully and authentically tell this story and it’s a role that belongs to them.

(featured image: Shakespeare’s Globe)