An outpouring of online abuse after a non-binary Joan of Arc and the staging of “Wokeo and Juliet” has raised fears from the artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe that she may be putting performers “in harm’s way”.
The theatre’s recent productions have been cast into the heart of the so-called culture wars, with Michelle Terry lamenting a “bilious” response on social media. “I have to sit with them before they go on stage and put themselves on the front line and go, ‘Is this the safest thing for you to do,’ and that is really worrying,” Terry said of her performers. “That is my concern. Is this a really safe place for nuanced debate.”
