Stage News

London's Royal Court has backed out of its initial decision to ban a touring production of the play Rita, Sue and Bob Too . Political correctness was the reason for the censorship on the basis that staging a play about an older man having sex with two teenage girls would be highly conflictual in the post-Weinstein era. The theatre also cited allegations of sexual misconduct made against the touring company's founder, Max Stafford-Clark (who no longer works fro the company).

In a statement artistic director Vicky Featherstone announced that she had invited the production back to the theatre for its run. She apologised for her arbitrary censorship decision saying:

The Royal Court was nothing without the voices and trust of our writers. This is the guiding principle on which the theatre was founded and on which it continues to be run.

I have therefore been rocked to the core by accusations of censorship and the banning of a working-class female voice. For that reason, I have invited the current Out of Joint production of Rita, Sue and Bob Too back to the Royal Court for its run. As a result of this helpful public debate we are now confident that the context with which Andrea Dunbar's play will be viewed will be an invitation for new conversations.

Arts writer David Barnett pointed out that cancelling Rita, Sue and Bob Too is a grim joke. It is precisely because of men like Max Stafford Clark that this play should be staged.

The play was written when Andrea Dunbar was 18 and became notorious for its opening scene where two schoolgirl babysitters take it in turns to have sex with their employer in the back of his car.

On Saturday, five months late, Russia's most controversial ballet in years opened at the Bolshoi.

Nureyev , which traces the life and Aids-related death of Soviet dancer and choreographer Rudolf Nureyev, had been pulled just two days before its scheduled premiere in July. Insiders suggested the ballet's frank treatment of homosexuality -- and a reported intervention by the culture ministry -- lay behind the dramatic decision to cancel. The parallel investigation and August arrest of the ballet's director, Kirill Serebrennikov, added to those suspicions. Right up until the last moment, there were doubts that the premiere would ever happen.

The Cannes-winning director remains under house arrest, awaiting trial. He is unable to work, talk to the press or see his elderly, infirm parents. He was not allowed to play any direct role in the final preparations of the ballet. State investigators accuse him of embezzlement but it seems more likely that the arrest is more to do with Russian hatred of gay culture.

The ballet has also suffered a notable cut from the version originally planned. The original version of the production, seen in leaked rehearsal videos, included the projection of a famous picture from Avedon's photoshoot of Nureyev in full-frontal mod. Insiders reported that it was this detail that had proven to be the most controversial for authorities. By Saturday, the 10-second scene had been cut, rather undermining the theatre's narrative that politics had not played a role in the original cancellation.

Bosses of Knox College in Illinois have banned a student play in the name of political correctness. A few easily offended students had whinged about a performance of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan, saying that it was too white and racially insensitive.

Peter Bailley, a Knox College spokesman said that campus leaders are proud of the open dialog between our students and faculty.

The play, which is about a Chinese sex worker who seeks to do good deeds, drew complaints that it stereotypes Asian women and that it engages in whitewashing because whites would be cast in nonwhite roles.

The Knox Student newspaper editorial board calling the play racist and the department very white ... like many departments at Knox. The editorial continued:

The theatre department ... needs to acknowledge that they are coming from a place of privilege and prejudice. They need to listen to their students when they voice their concerns about not only the plays the department produces, but interactions with insensitive faculty and problematic syllabi,

[I can now see where the US counter campaign is coming from with its posters proclaiming simply: It's OK to be white].

On 27 September 2017, Israeli authorities shut down the el-Hakawati Theatre (also known as the Palestinian National Theatre), preventing the holding of a cultural event, which included concerts by three music groups, on the grounds that it was sponsored by the Palestinian Authority, reported Quds Press .

Authorities hung a notice on the theatre door that said: Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan ordered the closure of the Hakawati theatre after receiving information about a cultural event entitled Arabs expelled from their homes in 1948 and 1967 , under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority.

Awad Salameh, member of the Jerusalem District of Fatah, said that authorities are oppressing Palestinians in Jerusalem and preventing them from establishing any cultural and educational artistic activity. He said they always raise the argument that the activity is under the auspices of the Palestinian National Authority, reported Alhaya .

The three music groups scheduled to perform at the September 2017 event were The Mount of Olives Folklore Band, Jerusalem Folklore Band and Riwaq Folklore Band.

A new stage play in Manchester has cut lines about Myra Hindley being a true artist and a hero for fear of offending the audience.

Derek Jarman's 1978 punk film Jubilee has been adapted for the Royal Exchange theatre.

In the film, a character named Amyl Nitrate used her opening speech to say Hindley instantly became my hero when she was 15.  She also said Hindley was a true artist because she knew how to make her desires a reality, and dismissed those who said her crimes were unimaginable because that showed the poverty of your imagination.

Director Chris Goode, who has adapted the script for its stage premiere, said the lines were in the original film to show how punks deliberately wanted to shock society and smash taboos.

He initially resisted requests to take out the reference to Hindley but was 'convinced' to do so by a member of the senior artistic leadership of the Royal Exchange on Saturday.

It seemed to me that if Derek [Jarman] could do that in 1977 that we must be able to do it 40 years on, he told BBC News. But after being 'convinced' he added:

I hadn't fully understood the way in which Myra Hindley as an icon and an idea has sort of become hotter over the intervening 40 years. That surprised me a little bit.

It's possible we could make a different decision about this if we were doing this run in London.  And there will be a run in London, and I expect we'll have the conversation again. But for now in Manchester it feels like there's a sensitivity there.

Greek riot police have used violence to stop an attempted theatre invasion by monks, priests and other Orthodox Christians protesting what they claim is a blasphemous play.

Wielding poles , some of the 100-strong crowd tried to break a police cordon outside the Aristoteleion Theatre in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.

Protesters oppose the staging of The Hour of the Devil, an adaptation of a story by Portuguese author Fernando Pessoa about a discussion between a young woman and a devil.

Production notebooks belonging to Samuel Beckett, letters written by JB Priestley from the First World War front line and an uncensored version of Joe Orton's Loot are among the items made available to view online for the first time by the British Library.

More than 100 artefacts from the British Library's theatre archive have been digitised as part of Discovering Literature: 20th Century , which brings together the work and creative processes of some of the last century's greatest playwrights.

Fourteen dramatists and 17 key works are explored through high-resolution images of playscripts, production photography, reviews, posters and programmes.

Other highlights include a manuscript of Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey together with the censor's notes in 1958, criticising the play for its portrayal of a gay character.