The show must go on

"Things are taken too far. It's about time they drew the line and got real," stated Val Clarke, Exmouth Operatic Societychairman.

The Exmouth Operatic Society, England, is searching for that one special actor to fill a part in their upcoming schedualed play. He can be of any size and shape, should be able to sing, dance and move and be willing to do a brief striptease on stage. That sounds fairly simple it would seem, except that he has to be black by law.

The rehearsals for the play are set to begin next month and the group is determined that "the show must go on." regardless of the temporary roadblock. The Race Relations Act of 1976 stipulates under Section 5(2)(a) that a black actor should play a black man and was imposed at a time when theatre groups often overlooked black actors.

Clarke feels that those days are long gone but she also stated that they would not be allowed to use a white actor in black-up. They have been trying to find an actor to fill the part of Horse but if they can't, she said that they would try all other possible ways including going back to the license holder.

The Commission for Racial Equality has said that it could not say if it was correct to use black make-up on an actor and whether people would find that offensive is subjective. A CRE spokesman had suggested that organisers of events like that may wish to consult with members of the community to guage their views on the subject.

With all the frivalous lawsuits lately, I can understand the concern that they might offend someone with black-up. It's acting though, the telling of a story and to demand that they remain entirely faithful to the colors of the characters and I am sure races, seems a bit excessive. Does this mean that an Asian theatre group would not be allowed to perform the play? They are performing, let them tell the tale with whatever actors have volunteered for the parts.