The “disproportionate representation” of William Shakespeare in the theatre has propagated “white, able-bodied, heterosexual, cisgender male narratives”, according to researchers in an £800,000 taxpayer-funded project.

The claim has prompted critics to accuse the Arts and Humanities Research Council, which has funded the study by academics at the University of Roehampton, of promoting “cultural clickbait”.

The project, devoted to “centring marginalised communities in the contemporary performance of early modern plays”, is due to be completed in two years’ time.

The researchers want to challenge the “normative trend” in “classical theatre” arising from “the disproportionate representation of William Shakespeare in scholarship and performance”.

In response they are mounting a production of a comedy by Shakespeare’s contemporary John Lyly, Galatea, which features characters disguised as the opposite sex. The researchers say the play offers “an unparalleled affirmative and intersectional demographic, exploring feminist, queer, transgender and migrant lives”.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ds/ar-BB1kpCkI