John R. Wilkinson

ALT Text over yellow background reads: Kwame Kwei-Armah's final season. There are glimpses of elements of show posters scattered around the edge of the image - the guitar from Passing Strange, the television screens from A Face in the Crowd and the teeth from The Little Foxes, among others.

ALT White text over a black background reads: “It's been the honour of a lifetime to lead the Young Vic. The three pillars that have guided my tenure have been innovation, access and community, and I’m proud of all that we have achieved. But it is a bittersweet moment. I am leaving a sector where 13 years of standstill funding is taking its toll. For decades UK theatre has fuelled the country's world-renowned creative industries, but without investment we could lose this pipeline of talent within a generation. I’m hopeful that this can and must change but it needs government intervention. I want to thank our audiences and supporters. I invite you to join me as I rock out with shows that mean the world to me and sum up what a building like this can do.” Kwame Kwei-Armah In the bottom left corner is an image of a tall dark skinned Black man with short spikey hair, wearing a green suit.

ALT Slide 1 of 6. Dear Shakespeare’s Globe. We are writing to express our deep concern around the casting of Michelle Terry as Richard III, in your forthcoming Summer Season. We’ve tried to contact you to resolve this off-line and internally – to no appropriate resolution – and now believe an open letter is the only solution. We, the undersigned, who are members of the disabled community and allies from across the theatre and arts industry, are outraged and disappointed by the casting of a non-physically disabled actor in this role, and the implications it has for not only disability, but the wider conversations surrounding it. Richard III is an iconic disabled character. Perhaps the most famous disabled character in the British canon. He is one of the first characters who experiences and documents the socialised effect of an attitudinally disabling society.

ALT Slide 2 of 6. How those attitudes embitter us, break us; ruin our integrity and character; and how Richard, himself, salvages his scraps of power into a vile immorality, as the only way to survive and rule as a disabled man. The script frequently mentions how he is disabled from birth, and the effects of the viewing of his disabled form affects his relationships, power, status and perception. It is indisputable this man is disabled, if not a defining disabled character of all time. Richard’s identity is directly linked to his physical impairment, or self-titled “deformity”. It is not an acquired sickness or disability. It’s about a from-birth socially ostracising difference. To see The Globe announce this casting within this production is shocking. His disabled identity is imbued and integral to all corners of the script. The production cannot be successfully performed with a non-physically disabled actor at the helm, steering the complex and vitally important narrative.

ALT Slide 3 of 6. It additionally contravenes the Globe’s ethos of diversity and inclusion across all protected characteristics, not to mention the striving for representation of a full cross-section society in the canon’s work. There’s been incredible progress made across all facets and routes of the industry regarding disabled inclusion, including the casting of disabled actors across disabled and traditionally non-disabled roles. But this role belongs to us. It is offensive and distasteful for Richard to be portrayed by someone outside 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.

ALT Slide 4 of 6. Disability is a protected identity that is often disrespected, ignored, adopted by outsiders for artistic purposes. After the incredible hardship that we have suffered over the last few years seeing rights stripped away by this government, leaving our community depleted, tired, forgotten; it is more important than ever to stand with us and work harder to implement more inclusive working practices and casting ethos. Consultation and engagement with disabled collaborators leads to authentic portrayals that send powerful messages to the world and how it views us. We ask that you respect your disabled peers and artists enough to let them take control of their own narratives. There can be Nothing About Us Without Us. Additionally, we believe in conversation around this production’s exploration of ‘charismatic narcissism’. Using mental health conditions as explanation for obsessive egotism and abominable manipulative behaviour directly negates the agency in odious conduct.