Dutch University All-Male Play Labeled ‘Discriminatory’

A Dutch university has canceled a play because the director did not audition anyone other than men for the cast, calling it "discriminatory."

It's important to note that every single character in the play is male.

The play in question is Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, and an Irish director named Oisín Moyne tried to put on a production of it at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

In the play, there are only five characters and all of them are male. So, Moyne posted the casting call for male actors, he was soon informed that this ran afoul of the university's inclusivity policy.

Wait, but aren't characters supposed to be played by actors matching their race/ethnicity/sex/sexual orientation?

I thought that was the rule too, but apparently not if you need to cast a bunch of dudes.

As it turns out, Moyne considered swapping some of the characters' genders, however, he couldn't legally do it. As it turns out, Samuel Beckett's estate owns the rights to the play and stipulates that only men can be cast.

That is not okay with the progressive left, which as you're about to see is as nutty across the pond as it is stateside.

Want to stage a version of Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot without casting all men? Have fun explaining that one to his estate. (Photo by Louis MONIER/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Auditioning Men To Play Men Is Discriminatory?

Let's hear from the university of Groningen's press officer, Elies Kouwenhoven, shall we?

" explicitly stated that this play should be performed by five men. Moving forward, times have changed. And that the idea that only men are suitable for this role is outdated and even discriminatory," Kouwenhoven said.

“We as a university stand for an open inclusive community where it is not appropriate to exclude others, on any basis."

I assume this was originally in Dutch, so Maybe something got muddied in translation.

Eh... maybe not.

Here's another example of the left not wanting to play by the rules that they've set. They've hammered home the idea that if a character is anything, it must be played by an actor that shares those qualities. A lot of us would argue that this defeats the point of acting, but whatever.

Yet in a play in which all the characters are men, casting only men is now against those rules?

You should be able to cast whoever you want to play whoever you want...

...unless — as we've learned — you're casting a play owned by the estate of Samuel Beckett.

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