Tuesday, January 17, 2023

The Royal Wokessphere Company

 When ‘Cymbeline King of Britain’ was staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company a while ago I asked for my money back because the title role was to be played by a woman.


This year it’s got worse. Prospero, the Duke of Milan (a man, the clue is in the word Duke) in ‘The Tempest’ is being played by a woman. Now Brutus and Cassius, the two main opponents of ‘Julius Caesar’ in the play of the same name, are also being played by women.


The RSC is wasting taxpayers’ money on this ridiculous woke nonsense. It is short-changing audiences who have a right to expect a reasonable interpretation of Shakespeare’s plays given this company is supposed to be one of the country’s leading arts organisations. And they are abusing their power to twist the plays to suit their own ends.


What’s more, having been refused a refund for ‘Cymbeline’, I made the mistake of going to see it. The play was dire because it was never clear if the ‘king’ was supposed to be male, female or other and the whole thing was a terrible mess. I very much hope audiences will tell the RSC what they think by melting into thin air.


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