19 May to 26 May

'Blacking-up', 'Cripping-up' and the search for authenticity
Theatre is a fake business trying to achieve truthfulness, though it is unclear what level of fakery is acceptable. Only forty-odd years ago Laurence Olivier received high praise for his performance as Othello. It would be unthinkable now for a white actor to 'black up'. However, non-disabled actors routinely 'crip-up' to play disabled roles, despite professional disabled actors having worked since 1973. What are the roots of this moral double standard? Is it simply what you can get away with? After all, while 'blacking up' looks ridiculous, 'cripping-up' is often considerably less noticeable (and may even be rewarded by Oscars).

 Cripping-up can look just as ridiculous as an actor with thick pan-stick on his face. Morally, it may deny an experienced disabled actor a job for which she is genuinely qualified. In the 1950s white audiences were comfortable with evidently fake black men, perhaps because their presence in productions avoided the need to deal with the scary and threatening 'other'. Though this would be considered politically incorrect now, today's audiences and theatre makers still seem ready to accept evidently fake disabled actors. This level of fakery is wrong not just because it doesn't look right, but because it isn't right.   

Alex Chisholm, Associate Director (Literary) West Yorkshire Playhouse