Is the sacking of renowned theatre director Max Stafford-Clark by the Rolling Stock theatre company an example of what some call ‘cancel culture’?
Stafford-Clark will no longer offer online drama instruction to schoolchildren after Rolling Stock received a backlash relating to sexual harassment by Stafford-Clark in 2017.
The accusations back then came from Gina Abolins, who worked with Stafford Clark and remembered him saying to her: “Back in the day, I’d have been up you like a rat up a drainpipe but now I’m a reformed character. My disability means I’m practically a virgin again”.
Her stories and others show that there is no doubt that Stafford-Clark has harassed women. But there is also no doubt that in his heyday he was one of the most innovative theatre practitioners in the country and that a lot can be learned from him, though plainly not about how to speak to women.
So the question is, as at the time he said he “wholeheartedly” apologised for “any inappropriate behaviour that made some former colleagues feel uncomfortable”, should he be prevented from earning a living?
Perhaps, this has less to do with what happened back in 2017 than what is happening now – which is the rise of a ‘cancel culture’ associated with an unwillingness to let people move on.
There are many examples of other people who have been cancelled. One was Jenna Marbles (real name Jenna Mourey) who disappeared from YouTube in June. Many were very critical of her early videos featuring gender stereotypes and blackface. But many also saw the fact that she moved away from this type of content as a sign of personal growth – until she disappeared altogether that is.
Although from different worlds, Stafford-Clark and Marbles remind us that instead of a ‘cancel’ culture we should move back towards a ‘context ‘culture. Understanding ‘context’ means denouncing historical mistakes while giving people space to outgrow their past.