Actors refused to 'Brown-Up'.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail....efusing-black-up.html

Since it seems obvious this theatre group had no dark skinned actors to play these parts, were the organisers wrong to ask white actors to use dark brown make-up, so as to make them look like South Sea Islanders?

[squarebear]

This is nonsense. Of course they should look the part. It is called acting.

[Gromit]

This is a victory for skin care. Good on her for looking after her health.

[sandyRoe]

They seem to have paid a heavy price for refusing to brown nose to the show's bosses.

[Zeuhl]

The ludicrous aspect of this (as referred to in DM piece) is that the core theme of South Pacific is racism and how the young couple are harmed and overcome racist attitudes.

Ms Broad's audience might have been confused why one group of 'light tan' characters were being horrid to the other group of 'light tan' characters.

[AB Editor]

"Were the organisers wrong to ask white actors to use dark brown make-up, so as to make them look like South Sea Islanders?"

Probably not, but it's one of those things which tends to get people's backs up a bit.

"We were only going to be on stage for around four minutes but there appeared to be no willingness to compromise on the darkness of the make-up.

We would have been happy to have had a light tan colour but the darkness of the paint was totally inappropriate. Morally it is unacceptable and ethically it is indefensible."

I wonder what is "too brown" in her estimations?

Quite a funny little story, I think it amounts to an equivalent headline: "amateur actors take themselves too seriously"!

[Baldric]

No they were not.

[youngmafbog]

looks like an opportunity was taken by the right-on liberals to take offence on behalf of someone else - yet again. Only this time they seen to have missed the whole point of the play and shot themselves in the foot.

Quite an amusing article.

[weecalf]

Next the male actors in the soaps wont be allowed to wear lipstick

[rojash]

Pretty much a non-story, but it would be interesting to see how AOG and the DM played it had the roles been reversed: "Black actors refused to 'white-up'", or even better: "Black actors agree to 'white-up' and steal roles from whites".

[weecalf]

what about davy dickenson ?

[Zeuhl]

^^

He's a Malteser isn't he.

[anotheoldgit]

Perhaps actors in such shows as the Mikado or Chu Chin Chow, should not be allowed to have their eyes made up to look like Japanese or Chinese?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXWkIZUPmDY

[sasskins]

Maybe if they haven't got the appropriate actors, they should choose a different production. There's plenty to choose from.

[weecalf]

apparently Lassie was a male so a bit of cover up there too

[whiskeryron]

What a load of bo*****s, I fear that this is carrying racism too far. In order to play a part in a play or film successfully actors are required to wear make up, wigs, body ornaments false body parts etc. Their refusal to conform to instructions for the particular roles in South Pacific is a genuine reason for their dismissal.

Ron.

[jno]

as sasskins says, it would make sense to tailor your productions to your cast, rather than deciding to stage The Magic Flute and demanding that your tenor lower his voice because you haven't got a bass to play Sarastro.

Perhaps they could try hiring a few brown people?

Watching Peter Sellers and Alec Guinness browning up for their old roles just looks silly today.

[anotheoldgit]

In the quest for racial equality, and also to keep rojash satisfied.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AVHrPAlCcI&feature=related

[ludwig]

Does anyone remember when Crimewatch wanted to do a reconstruction of a black gang robbing a jewellers but they couldn't (or couldn't be bothered to) get any black actors so they got a few policemen to black up and wear curly wigs - obviously thinking 'yeah that's close enough, they all look the same'.

It was hilarious. There was a bit of fuss about it at the time though.

[Gromit]

I have just done a google search to see how other productions tackle this thorny issue.

They seem to be able to convince their audience through their acting instead of 'blacking up'.

http://callander-amat...ephoto4-%28web%29.jpg