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Opinion

Where the Royal Court's report went wrong

Adding oversight may ruin the work of playwrights, says John Nathan

March 10, 2022 13:19
Royal Court Theatre GettyImages-1313530760
5 min read

The first five words of the Royal Court’s enquiry announced that a nettle had been avoided, not grasped. “The enquiry into Rare Earth Mettle…”, it began.

Its objective: to discover how a new play brimful of hot-button themes including global warming, indigenous rights and the West’s exploitation of a developing nation’s resources ended up perpetuating an antisemitic stereotype by naming its leading character, a non-Jewish
unfathomably rich, morally bankrupt tycoon, the specifically Jewish name of Hershel Fink.

The report’s assumption is that the problem lies in the theatre’s systems. Any long-held attitudes towards Jews at the theatre were apparently deemed irrelevant (more of which later). 

With this narrowest possible focus the enquiry sets out the systemic failures that led to the use of an antisemitic trope up until complaints forced Hershel’s name to be changed to Henry Finn before opening night. The report’s suggested cure? More oversight.