Hello, and welcome back to Week in Review, our roundup of industry-wide news. From stage to screens big and small, we’ve got you covered. It’s everything you need to know and all you can’t afford to miss.
Actors call for casting directors to be recognised at Oliviers
Richard E Grant and Gemma Arterton are among the stars calling for casting directors to get their own Olivier award. This comes as the D&AD announce in Backstage that a new awards category for casting is planned as part of a range of collaborations between the creative awards body and the Casting Directors Association.
Speaking to The Stage at the inaugural Casting Directors’ Guild Awards on 12 February, Arterton said that casting directors “are so overlooked in the film and theatre industry, and it’s always really perplexed me.” Grant, a BAFTA and Oscar nominee this year for his turn in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, said he owed his “entire career” to casting directors, and that he felt “very strongly indeed” that they should be recognised at major awards ceremonies.
Speaking to Backstage, CDA chair Tree Petts said: “I’m not sure why casting has been marginalised for years but wanting recognition isn’t to pad out our egos! It’s wanting to be seen as part of the team. If you watch a drama on TV – you’re not looking at the kitchen in the background, you’re looking at the actors. And yet often there isn’t an award for casting but there is for best art direction. It matters just as much.”
READ: The CDA and D&AD Talk Commercials + Casting Awards
‘Disturbing’ trend of actors cast for Twitter and Instagram followers
Actors and industry experts have called out a “disturbing” trend in casting after a complaint surfaced on social media. According to actor Stephen Hoyle, a recent casting breakdown requested that applicants should have more than 5,000 followers on Instagram. The tweet last week sparked outrage and tales from fellow actors who reported similar stories of being asked to supply social media handles and figures at castings. Hayley Tamaddon, currently appearing in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, was asked about her online following at a West End casting and told the lead role needed “a good social media following as it would help sell tickets.” The role went to a performer with 20,000 more Twitter followers than her.
Many others reported experiencing similar situations, with one performer saying it was “just another box I have to fill in at castings.” The Casting Directors’ Guild called the process “disheartening.” Read more here.
‘PuppetGate’ play goes ahead despite calls for cancellation
A new play that tells the story of a couple raising a child with autism, where the child is played by a puppet, has opened in London despite severe backlash on social media and a petition calling for it to be cancelled. The National Autistic Society and leading theatre companies Graeae and Hijinx added their voices to growing criticism of All In A Row, a play by Alex Oates at the Southwark Playhouse that opened 14 February, calling the puppet representation of an autistic child “dehumanising.” Collected using the hashtag #PuppetGate, the show has inspired strong reactions from many in the industry. Read more here.
Campaign group attack allegedly ‘regressive’ children’s TV show
A raft of figures from stage and screen have signed an open letter to the BBC and production company Twenty Twenty after reports that a new children’s TV series about a Chinese family in Manchester was authored with little involvement from British East Asian writers. Campaign group British East Asians Working in Theatre and Screen (BEATS) attacked the team behind the CBBC programme Living With the Lams for developing and commissioning a 10-episode series about British East Asians with only minimal involvement from the group it aims to represent.
In a statement, BEATS said: “It is unacceptable that a television series about the day-to-day lives of a British East Asian family will not be fully authored by British East Asian writers,” adding that “British East Asians – our lives, our stories and our voices – are marginalised, suppressed and all too often even erased in UK arts and culture.” The group also raised concerns that the scripts seen by the group were “regressive and perpetuating, rather than challenging racial stereotypes.”
BEATS also claim that British East Asian writers were not appointed on the show created by Helen Soden at Twenty Twenty because they were deemed to be too inexperienced. The BBC said that while they do not appoint writers or producers “based solely on their cultural affiliations or nationality,” the corporation is “confident” it will create a show that “successfully reflects and celebrates this community.” Read more here.
Sex Education to return for second season
A new series of Sex Education, starring Asa Butterfield and Gillian Anderson, is to begin filming in Cardiff in the coming months. The teen comedy about a boy whose mother is a sex therapist and starts treating his peers has garnered overwhelmingly positive reviews and is on course to be one of the most-streamed Netflix originals produced in the UK. Production for Season 2 is gearing up, with casting director Lauren Evans returning, and additional casting happening now.
Find out what else is casting soon in our Greenlit series.
Maggie Smith returns to the stage
Smith is making her stage return for the first time in over a decade in a new play by Christopher Hampton at London’s Bridge Theatre. A German Life will tell the story of Brunhilde Pomsel, the personal secretary to Joseph Goebbels, a prominent figure in Nazi Germany. Drawn from testimonies given by Pomsel, the play is based on the 2016 documentary of the same name. The solo play will be the first time Smith has performed on stage since the 2007 West End premiere of Edward Albee’s The Lady From Dubuque. A German Life is directed by Jonathan Kent and opens at the Bridge Theatre from 6 April. Read more here.
Check out Backstage’s UK audition listings!