The playwright's with Opera North Has Gone Viral-Homophobia at Play
A Story Goes Viral
Child's play? ... Billy Elliot, written by Lee Hall, on Broadway. Photograph: David Scheinmann
When, last Friday morning, the Guardian arts desk took a call from writer Lee Hall about difficulties he was having over a community opera in Bridlington, and asking if he could write about it for us, we knew the story was worth carrying; even more so late on Friday night, when Opera North announced that they were summarily cancelling the show. But we weren't quite prepared for what would happen next. Whatever else this story says about the behaviour of Opera North and the primary school in question, it clearly touched a nerve with many people, both performers and audiences.
As I write this on Tuesday morning, the story has been picked up by many news organisations worldwide, from the Sydney Morning Herald to the Hull Daily News. Radio 4's Front Row made space to cover it last night, asking composer Harvey Brough and Opera North general director Richard Mantle on to the programme (not, unfortunately, head-to-head), and running a statement by Mike Furbank of the local education authority, denying homophobia, and insisting that the language of the script was the issue: "although the language was toned down," he said, "it was still deemed as unacceptable for four- to 11-year-olds to be exposed to. One of our primary roles is to safeguard children." Radio 5 Live covered the story this morning, and earlier on BBC Breakfast invited Hall and Mantle to debate the issue.
Yesterday, Opera North moved rapidly to distance itself from accusations of homophobia, posting no fewer than three separate statements on its blog. Initially it sought to defend the decision, denying that large amounts of money had been "wasted", defending the school's viewpoint and insisting that "[the community's] performance on 15 July is still something to celebrate." Later, though – responding to the furiously negative comments beneath? – it attempted to seem more contrite, emphasising ON's efforts to resolve the situation: "Opera North wishes to make it clear that it absolutely rejects any accusations that it is at all discriminatory and is dismayed that anyone would draw these conclusions." Late yesterday evening, Mantle himself posted a personal statement emphasising much the same thing, but in still stronger terms: "Opera North," he wrote, "feels that the decision by Lee Hall to suggest that the production was cancelled due to a homophobic stance on the part of the company is unacceptable. It is so at odds with the reality of our views on the issue, and so publicly misrepresents the situation in such a demeaning way." Blogger Not So Wunderbar had a simpler solution, and laid it out in a post entitled "What Opera North Could Have Said": a fictional statement from the company that stood by Hall and the creative team, "rather than washing their hands of him".
Some have decided to give ON the benefit of the doubt – such asEleanor Turney at A Younger Theatre, who said: "I fail to see how the school's apparently small-minded decision is Opera North's fault" – even if they think the school has got it wrong. As Turney concludes, "Sexuality and sex are different, and the school should have the wit to recognise this." And question marks do seem to hover over what's really going on there; I've seen a copy of a statement made by the LEA, which initially claimed that the character in question was someone "who groomed and abused children" – something Hall denies was ever the case. It since seems to have been retracted.
The story has taken a particular hold on social media. As I write, nearly 4,000 people have shared it on Facebook (Hall set up a group there) and close to 800 people via Twitter. Many have criticised Opera North: director Simon McBurney urged people to "assault Opera North's website", insisting that "ON HAS to stand up for the work". Actor Samuel West called it a "scandal". PatrickStrud said: "Urgent message to schools in the Bridlington area: Section 28 has been repealed." Madewithstringcontrasted "Lee Hall's defence of equality" with "Opera North's defence of cowardice". But DarylBranch made a more intriguing suggestion: "I think @RoyalOperaHouse should stage Beached by #leehall with community team at #ROHThurrock Thames Gateway, maybe Southend."
Commenters beneath Hall's original article for us are also in full spate (142 comments and counting); some of the most interesting perspectives there come from teachers. McCruiskeen ("a retired primary school head teacher") suggests that the school should be named and those responsible held to account. UnionisedTeacher writes: "I speak from experience on this. I didn't come out until I was 19. And the event that inspired me to come out was a film called Billy Elliot." Hengabeckawrites: "This is homophobia in its truest sense; an irrational fear that makes people do stupid and damaging things."
A quick roundup of other reaction: Jeanette Winterson has written a large piece for the Times (no weblink, obviously), commenting that the very weekend the Bridlington piece was due to go ahead, the Royal Opera House will stage the notoriously bloody, violent Tosca. "But maybe," she dryly suggests, "children don't need to be 'safeguarded' from any of that." Writing this morning, Stage columnist Mark Shentonpoints out the story's multiple ironies – that it broke a week after New York state legalised gay marriage and the same weekend of Pride events in the US and UK, and a few days after the premiere of Nico Muhly's new opera, which deals with far more controversial issues to do with adolescent sexuality. Shenton didn't attend London's Pride march, he explains, because he assumed that "there's not too much left to shout and fight for". He continues: "How wrong I was." And a few hours after hearing the news, playwright and blogger Daniel Bye posted this thoughtful piece, addressed: "Dear Opera North". "You're clearly not homophobic," he writes, "yet this decision makes it look that way. In your defence, you say you're not taking sides. Well why the hell not? … If you can't stand by the work, you shouldn't have gone into rehearsals. And if you can't choose a side between homophobia and freedom of expression, quite frankly I'm astonished that you can hold your head up in the 21st century."
So what's the latest? A few minutes ago I spoke to Lee Hall, who says he's heard a rumour – so far unconfirmed – that the performance may go ahead, involving children whose parents are happy for them to participate. "I'm cautiously optimistic, because everyone seems to be retreating," he says. "They're hiding, because they've got nowhere to go. It's literally about nine words in the script. I'm hoping that this has stirred up enough for people to reconsider."
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