22 January 2020: Opinion piece for The Stage

According to Lawrence Fox, Britain is ‘the most tolerant, lovely country in Europe’ and we should all stop going on about racism. Not a view held by many colleagues in the theatre who still fight passionately for the same chances that white people take for granted. So why do some privileged influencers think otherwise, and how should we respond?

The 1970s a golden age for television drama, rarely included any BAME actors and certainly none in the classic series which my family watched. Not surprising that so many middle class people of my generation went through life in a bubble of ignorance and often prejudice.

It’s easy to think that much has changed but the grubby outpouring on social media (and now worryingly on mainstream television) reveals how the instincts to cling to your own clan seem to be as strong as ever. If you have grown up in a privileged and narrow circle it is inevitable that you will mix with people who share your opinions, education and taste, so much of which is informed by class and ethnicity.

The problem is that power is vested in a very small sector – still overwhelmingly white and middle class – that resists change because it dilutes their power. Theatre-makers, generally liberal and tolerant, make the mistake of thinking that their sector is somehow different.

In 2004 I started the Greenwich Musical Theatre Academy which set out to find talented young people in South East London from the working class and BAME communities and offer them free high quality training in singing, dancing and acting.

The theory was to offer conservatoire standard training at 16 that would give them a clear advantage when later applying for drama school. It was effective but the primary lesson we learnt was that success depended on two things: confidence and resilience. The confidence to risk trying in the first place, and resilience to keep going when the rejections started.

These are, of course, the qualities that middle class parents focus on so determinedly and the ones that our students struggled with. At the end of the first full-time course, we had 14 really accomplished students and a top drama school kindly offered to audition them all privately for their musical course. If any were good enough they would join the next round of recalls.

The day before, all fourteen announced they would not do the audition. “Why?” I asked in disbelief. They had a variety of excuses but it was obvious they were frightened of failing and would give up the opportunity rather than take the risk of rejection. In the end, I persuaded them and the auditions were successful. Four were recalled, two got places and most of the rest progressed to other institutions.

The Greenwich project could be rolled out nationally at modest cost and with potentially maximum impact, by enhancing the already high-quality provision offered by schools and colleges. Starting the process early would provide thousands of marginalised students with the critical boost in confidence they need. And make it more likely they would connect with opportunities to support them such as Open Door. The entertainment industry clearly has a responsibility to stand up and be counted at a time of rising right-wing, populist politics because if we don’t – who will?

Not just to ensure a fairer point of access but also to bring different stories, voices and opinions to the public. And yes, to fight the creeping racism that cloaks itself in light-hearted, jokey soundbites.