BP Or Not BP!. A Shakespeare's Dilemma

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 4/24/12 at 9:16am

Actors protesting about BP’s sponsorship of the World Shakespeare Festival invaded the stage in Stratford-upon-Avon on Monday before a performance of 'The Tempest'.

Richard Howlett and other members of the Reclaim Shakespeare Company asked the audience to join them in tearing the BP logos from their programmes

The actors performed a short piece to challenge the Royal Shakespeare Company’s decision to accept sponsorship from BP after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The group then asked the audience to tear the BP logo from their programmes.

According to a statement, the performance marked the public launch of the Reclaim Shakespeare Company’s website and manifesto, entitled, BP or not BP.

Responding to the protest RSC artistic director Michael Boyd said: “BP is sponsoring the World Shakespeare Festival as founding presenting partner, and without their support important elements of the festival simply would not be possible. We consider potential partners very carefully and have taken this decision with the backing of our board.
“There was a small and dignified protest on the Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage last night. Protests happen because people want their voices heard. Since Shakespeare’s day, live theatre has always been a place for actors, directors and writers to speak out. From our earliest beginnings in the 1960s, we have encouraged open and creative expressing amongst our artists, and I’m proud the RSC has been a place of experiment and occasional controversy. Everyone has the right to express their views peacefully, and we will be open as normal and will ensure our theatres remain accessible for all our audiences.”

The protest follows a letter to The Guardian by actors, writers and directors also objecting to the sponsorship. The letter, which is signed by Mark Rylance and playwrights Moira Buffini and Van Badham among others, states that the World Shakespeare Festival “has been sullied by the fact that the festival is sponsored by BP”.
It adds: “We, as individuals involved in theatre and the arts, are deeply concerned that the RSC – like other much-cherished cultural institutions – is allowing itself to be used by BP to obscure the destructive reality of its activities. We would like to see an end to oil sponsorship of the arts and are committed to finding more responsible ways to finance this country’s cultural life, for our own and future generations.”

[pwar]

Posted: 4/24/12 at 2:08pm

Good on them. BP is a morally bankrupt company, and its blatant attempts to buy back its guilt from the public is just pathetic.

At the end of 2010, I went to a launch of a huge exhibition at the British Museum sponsored by BP and some BP spokesperson got up and said something along the lines of 'This hasn't been our greatest year...' Awkward as hell.

Updated On: 4/24/12 at 02:08 PM

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 4/25/12 at 2:30am

I thought this thread was about Bernadette Peters!