Richard III should only be played by a disabled actor – anything else is insulting

When it comes to disability, Shakespeare’s Globe has a blind spot, writes James Moore – and it’s not just the ‘winter of our discontent’, it’s a full-blown, year-round insult

Michelle Terry as Richard III – who suffered from severe scoliosis (Shakespeare’s Globe)

Shakespeare’s Globe has made a big show of turning the bard “woke”. It has colour-blind casting, even gender-blind casting – and it’s not shy of a controversy or two.

So, in casting a woman in the lead role of Richard III – by way of artistic director Michelle Terry – the famous playhouse must have thought it was on to a blinder. “Actually,” you can imagine its defiant team espousing: “for many years, Shakespeare’s female roles were actively handed over to adolescent boys, because women weren’t allowed to tread the boards! So why not give her a shot at the villainous monarch who describes himself as “cheated of feature” and “deformed, unfinish’d”...?”

I see their point – as Richard III himself says (act one, scene three): “Since every Jack became a gentleman; There’s many a gentle person made a Jack.”