Consent-based actor training as the only way forward

Abstract

In her keynote address to The Stage’s Future of Theatre conference, Principal of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (Central) Josette Bushell-Mingo stated that the ‘future of drama training has changed forever’ (2022). Bushell- Mingo proposed that the time has come to make ‘artistic decisions’ in ‘dialogue with the students’(ibid). This change includes safe theatre practices involving the scrutinising of embedded conscious and unconscious bias in curriculum design and pedagogical delivery. Through the development of allyship and greater staff and student awareness, all artistic behaviour can embody consent, from negotiation of touch through to power differentials. This paper shares insights from public debate and policy documentation that have led to processes of a consent-based framework for students and staff within a three-year acting program. The hope is that such processes will provide a safer space for students of acting, offering autonomy of choice of material, a safe place for all students, Indigenous approaches to creating work, practices of consent in all areas of the work, especially in intimate work, and safe approaches in the creation of a role and the stepping out of role.