UK theatre axes play with abuse theme amid misconduct crisis

LONDON – With allegations of sexual misconduct shaking Britain’s entertainment industry, London’s Royal Court Theatre has cancelled a production that features “themes of grooming and abuses of power on young women.”

“Rita, Sue and Bob Too” had been due to open at the Royal Court next month.

It is a co-production with Out of Joint, a theatre company whose director, Max Stafford-Clark, stepped down in September amid allegations of sexual misbehaviour.

The Royal Court said Wednesday that presenting the play felt “highly conflictual” at a time when women are speaking out about sexual harassment and abuse.

The 1982 play by the late Andrea Dunbar is about two working-class English teenagers and their relationship with an older married man. It’s considered a landmark of British theatre and was made into a 1987 film.