This is Soho Place, London’s newest West End theatre. Today was the final day of its production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, which was a joy to see, despite an angry interruption from a man in the balcony.
The actress Rose Ayling-Ellis - who was born deaf - played Celia, and the production featured signing and screens with subtitles so that all audience members could enjoy it. I’ve seen many plays that tackle challenging subjects or subvert expectations through casting, but never expected a production to be halted because of someone objecting to it being inclusive of deaf people in the audience.
In Act I Scene II, the man in the balcony stood up and started shouting “this is discrimination against hearing people” and ranted that it was the worst thing he’d ever seen, before the cast left the stage and the theatre staff escorted him away. This shot was taken while we were waiting for the play to resume. It turned out that a lot of audience members had thought he shouted “this is discrimination against HAIRY people” and were mystified by his intervention.
Of course Shakespeare had the final word. When the cast returned to huge cheers, Touchstone said:
The more pity - followed by a significant pause that the audience appreciated - that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly. (Act I, scene ii, 82-3)
A great story, and so it harmonizes with Shakespeare's comedies. The history of the theater knows many such strange behaviors, and the actors always know how to comment it accurately.
@haskar thank you! Yes, Shakespeare wrote during a time when audience members would have commented on the action - so it's possible that some of the lines would have been directed at those watching!
January 29th, 2023
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