RULES OF ENGAGEMENT FOR THE DAY

On 28 Oct the Royal Court is holding a day of action to address and strive to end abuses of power that have led to sexual harassment in the theatre industry. This is a free, public event for those who work or are training in the theatre.

It is not intended as a platform to “name and shame”, although we recognize that this is important for some people. We will provide legal and other advice for those that wish to pursue this.

This event is the beginning of a process across our whole industry. We anticipate more events will come out of it.

The below rules of engagement are the framework for participation on the day.

  • The event is to examine experiences in the theatre workplace or training – not personal experiences outside of work
  • The event will not provide structured victim support; whilst we will be able to point participants towards help, we will be focusing on professional learning and future-focused change-making
  • Everyone is welcome, and we encourage people at all stages of their training and careers to attend
  • There will be conversations and events happening across the building – each space has a different code of conduct:
  • The reading of stories in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs is a performative, public event and we will follow our legal responsibilities around placing work in the public domain. We will redact sensitive information, names, and identifying details from stories so that this space is free of legal risk.
  • The Town Hall workshops in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs will be confidential spaces; however experiences, insights and learnings from those spaces will be used to form a Code of Conduct which we will share publicly at the end of the day. It is our ambition that this Code of Conduct is collectively adopted by theatre organisations as part of their dignity, respect and wellbeing policies.
  • There will be space for those who wish to speak one-to-one with a listener during the day, and also legal advice between 1pm – 3pm for those who would like to  explore more deeply the possible options available to them going forward.
  • The bar and kitchen will be open all day and we encourage conversations to keep happening. Participants must assume confidentiality and respect others at all times.
  • The events across the day are not open to the press and any unofficial press reporting would be in breach of the protections around the day. However, we look forward to working with the media after the day as the process continues. Please contact Head of Press Anoushka Warden for further information on this point.
  • We will not be making film or sound recordings of any of the events in any of the spaces. We will document the day through note-taking and will write up the learnings to be shared industry-wide.
  • We ask that all participants are mindful and respectful in their own social media use on the day.
  • We are working closely with sister theatres and trade organisations on this event and are committed to collaborative action.

For more information about the day click here.