Play about teen grooming axed after director accusations

Director Max Stafford-Clark (left, with actor Stella Feehily in 2013) was sacked over allegations he sexually harassed three young women

Its candid portrayal of teenage girls having sex with misogynistic men caused a storm on stage 35 years ago.

Now Rita, Sue and Bob Too has been pulled from the stage it was debuted on amid claims the theatre should be seen as a ‘safe space’.

The Royal Court Theatre in London has cancelled a fortnight-long run of a touring production claiming showing the controversial play would be ‘highly conflictual’.

It comes after Max Stafford-Clark – who directed the original 1982 production and was the Royal Court’s former artistic director – was sacked over allegations he sexually harassed three young women.

He had been named as director of the new production, but after the allegations surfaced he was axed. 

The London theatre said it would no longer run the play in light of the allegations and sensititivies over recent grooming scandals. 

Set in Bradford, the semi-autobiographical play was written by the late Andrea Dunbar when she was just 19 and made into a film in 1987.

A mix of despair and black humour, the tale of two teenage schoolgirls sleeping with older men has chilling echoes of the abuse suffered by dozens of young girls in Rotherham and Oxford.

But Adelle Stripe, who wrote a book about Miss Dunbar’s work and life, argued that we should not shy away from uncomfortable viewing. She told BBC Radio 4: ‘It’s very awkward for us in 2017, in these post-Savile times, to watch this play and to feel comfortable with it.

‘And actually in the original play, Bob, who is the central character, gets pretty much punished by Andrea.

The London theatre said it would no longer run the play in light of the allegations and sensititivies over recent grooming scandals

The London theatre said it would no longer run the play in light of the allegations and sensititivies over recent grooming scandals

‘But in the film version it has quite a different ending and Bob actually gets both of the girls. Andrea Dunbar was furious about that and pretty much disowned the film.’

The play, which has already been performed at ten venues across the country, was set to run at the London theatre from January.

But theatre insiders said axing the show, which was subsequently directed by Kate Wasserberg, was ‘the right thing to do.’

A source from Out of Joint – which is staging the revival of Rita, Sue and Bob Too – told The Guardian: ‘We support the Royal Court 100 per cent in their response to the recent allegations in the media and understand that the Royal Court needs to be a safe space. 

‘We are proud of the show, written by a woman and directed by a woman, as it continues to be seen around the country.’

Mr Stafford-Clark was accused of inappropriate behaviour after revelations about the sex scandal surrounding disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein. He was sacked from Out of Joint in October.

He was accused of making sexual comments to three women.

Gina Abolins, 29, a production assistant, told Out of Joint’s board in July that the director, who uses a wheelchair after suffering three strokes, said to her: ‘Back in the day, I’d have been up you like a rat up a drainpipe.’ 

She claimed Mr Stafford-Clark asked her to try on a bikini and encouraged her to have casual sex so she could tell him about it.

The play, which has already been performed at ten venues across the country, was set to run at the London theatre from January

The play, which has already been performed at ten venues across the country, was set to run at the London theatre from January

Last month, the Royal Court issued a code of behaviour to tackle sexual harassment in light of the allegations against Weinstein and former Old Vic director Kevin Spacey.

It also recently staged a five-hour reading of 150 stories of sexual harassment from people in the theatre industry.

The Royal Court Theatre said in a statement: ‘The departure of Max Stafford-Clark from Out of Joint and the recent allegations in the media have coincided with the Royal Court’s response to the spotlight on our industry and the rigorous interrogation of our own practices.

After the allegations surfaced, Mr Stafford-Clark’s spokesman apologised on behalf of the director and said his ‘disinhibited’ behaviour was a result of his strokes.

TALE OF TWO GIRLS AND AN OLDER MAN 

Big screen: The cast of the 1987 movie version 

Big screen: The cast of the 1987 movie version 

Set in a deprived area of the north of England in the mid-1980s, Rita, Sue and Bob Too tells the story of two teenage girls who embark on an affair with a married man.

Schoolgirls Rita and Sue first meet Bob when they babysit for him, and later have sex with him in his car in the middle of the moors.

Bob later meets Rita for sex in an abandoned show home.

His wife Michelle becomes suspicious of the girls and eventually leaves him.

Rita then discovers she is pregnant with his child while Sue decides to never see him again.

Rita later suffers a miscarriage and becomes suspicious Bob and Sue are still secretly seeing each other.

Sue starts dating Aslam, an Asian taxi driver, who is racially abused by her father when she takes him home. Aslam later becomes suspicious when he sees Bob and Sue leaving a car together and threatens to kill her if he sees her with another man.

He attacks Sue in a jealous rage and she and Rita flee to Bob’s house. The controversial film ends with Bob jumping into bed with the two teenagers.

 

 



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