The Disabled Debate: Can Able-bodied Play Handicapped?
Published on Tuesday 28th July, 9.31am, Written by Carrie Dunn
As I have always understood it, the point of acting is to inhabit the world of another person, and to portray that person.
The actor may have something in common with their character; they may not. But actors are supposed to be able to empathise and research and imagine and combine these elements to create a convincing portrayal.
When Jude Law was cast as Hamlet, for all the fascination in the decision and the debate about his thespian capabilities, I didn’t see anyone complaining that he’d never been a depressive prince of Denmark, so he wouldn’t be able to understand the character. Alec Guinness was never a duke, a parson, a banker, an admiral, a general, or even a lady, but nobody said he couldn’t take that multiple role in Kind Hearts and Coronets. And for all my reservations about Diana Vickers taking on Little Voice, none of them include the fact that she’s never been a terminally shy repressed young women tormented by the absence of her father, reassured only by the great singing divas, and forced into showbiz by her mother and her bit on the side.
Yet James Beddard’s article this week (www.guardian.co.uk) triggered a lot of debate among theatrical types as to whether only disabled actors can play disabled characters – or if the very notion of it is offensive, like a white actor “blacking up” to play Othello.
Harvey Fierstein famously said that he wanted gay actors to play Albin/Zaza in La Cage Aux Folles for reasons of authenticity, declaring, “If you stand up and sing ‘I Am What I Am’ without feeling your sexuality and your persecution right down to your painted toenails, it’s never going to be quite the same thing.” But sharing an emotion with a character isn’t quite the same as acting – and nor is it all there is to it. Surely the primary thought of any director or casting panel should be whether an actor can play the role – not who he sleeps with.
And the same principle must apply to disabled actors and characters. If Beddard’s argument is that there should be more opportunities for disabled actors, and directors shouldn’t automatically opt for an able-bodied actor “disabling up”, then I totally agree. If the logical conclusion of this is a kind of positive discrimination, where actors are cast for their physical disability rather than their acting ability, this can’t be the future of theatre – can it?
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