Manchester theatre cancels Shakespeare play over Gaza and trans rights dispute

Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre was set to stage a five-week run of the William Shakespeare play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ reimagined in a contemporary Manchester setting with a drum ‘n’ bass soundtrack, but has now cancelled the entire run.

Set to open on 6 September and end on 12 October, some of the first performances were cancelled last minute with emails to ticket holders citing a cast injury and technical difficulties.

The Royal Exchange then called off the entire run on 14 September, saying there had been “a number of issues with the production” and that the theatre had made “every effort to get the show on”.

It has since been revealed that the cancellation was due to an internal conflict between the crew and the theatre over references to trans rights and the conflict in Gaza.

As part of the modernisation of the show by director Stef O’Driscoll, a song had been added that included the phrase “Free Palestine”, “ceasefire now”, “genocide, and “mass bloodshed”. “Free Palestine” was also written on the set in graffiti. The song also included a reference to trans rights.

Sources told the Manchester Evening News that theatre bosses had asked for these elements to be removed from the show, but O’Driscoll insisted it remained, with the cast supporting her decision.

“They did the first preview, at which point the theatre said they are going to have to cut the reference to trans rights and free Palestine. The director said – no, this is my direction, it's what it's always been, we've had weeks and months and you are now trying to change it after the first preview. The company were very solid and unified,” the source said.

It was this disagreement that led to the initial cancelled performances with the explanation of a cast injury and technical difficulties.

Last Wednesday, a meeting was called between the cast, the theatre company and acting union Equity and directors' union Stage Directors UK to resolve the issue but no agreement could be reached.

By the weekend, it was confirmed that O’Driscoll walked from the production with ticket holders informed later that day that the entire run had been cancelled.

A source close to the production explained the significance of this decision for the Manchester theatre: “This is a big deal for them. They've been through the wars financially, through Covid. I know people that are directly involved. They are really devastated about it.”

Although no performances of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ will go ahead, Equity has confirmed that the entire cast and workforce have been paid for the run in full, equating to a huge financial loss for the theatre.