More than 150 accounts of harassment submitted anonymously to Royal Court read at London event aiming to shine a light on abuses of power in theatreFor more than five hours, stories of sexual harassment were read out on stage at the Royal Court theatre on Saturday, ranging from tales of subtle belittling to serious sexual assault. The event, No Grey Area, initiated by a tweet the theatre’s artistic director Vicky Featherstone posted in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, aimed to shine a light on the systemic nature of sexual harassment in the theatre industry while also seeking to find a solution. Since then, it has emerged that renowned director Max Stafford-Clark – himself a former artistic director of Royal Court – had been forced out of the Out of Joint theatre company he founded due to a formal complaint about lewd comments he had made, which were revealed to the Guardian. She said: “Yes it’s hugely problematic [in theatre] but it’s just hugely problematic in society and that’s really important to say.”Last year, the Royal Court held a company-wide meeting (dubbed a Town Hall) on sexual harassment in the theatre which resulted in a mutually agreed verbal code of conduct. British theatre bosses condemn sexual harassment in industry Read moreThey were curated by Lucy Morrison, the associate director of the theatre, who said it was important to hear stories so patterns of behaviour could be recognised.

Source: The Guardian October 28, 2017 19:21 UTC