Disabled Artists Alliance ‘outraged and disappointed’ by Shakespeare’s Globe’s Richard III casting decision

Campaign group Disabled Artists Alliance has condemned Shakespeare’s Globe’s decision to cast artistic director Michelle Terry as Richard III.

Terry is set to take on the role of the infamous monarch (whose exhumed skeleton showed he had scoliosis during his life) as part of the Thameside venue’s forthcoming summer season. The Globe has since released two statements about the decision, with a second note from Terry explaining : “I acknowledge that for many, Richard III is an iconic disabled figure. I understand that this feels like a missed opportunity for a disabled artist to play a disabled character on a major UK stage, but it will come around again.”

The Disabled Artists Alliance has released its own statement, signed by over 180 artists and organisations, saying: “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.”

They continued: “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. 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.”

Signatories have included notable theatre companies such as Deafinitely Theatre, Graeae Theatre Company, Birds of Paradise Theatre Company, comedian and actor Rosie Jones and actor Daniel Monks.

Jon Furlong, who starred in the venue’s production of Henry V in 2023, shared: “I have scoliosis. Worked at the Globe last year. Loved it. I hate all of this. You’re telling us where you think the industry is. It goes against the positive steps people are tirelessly working towards. It’s exhausting. Do f*cking better and listen.”

While not referencing the Globe specifically, award-winning playwright Jack Thorne shared a note on the subject on social media: “The disabled world is marginalised to a dangerous degree. Disabled stories don’t get told and it infects society. So there is no justification for denying disabled actors authorship over disabled roles.”