#LET ME SET JACOB RICHMOND AND HIS SHITHOLE MUSICAL ON FIRE

[thelegendofmik]

Ride the Cyclone is in Australia, and goddamn am I pissed off.

So it's been known for a while that RTC is coming to Australia professionally, but only very recently was the cast announced.

DISCLAIMER: no hate to the cast. between the cost of living crisis and the government abandoning the entertainment industry, i don't blame these performers for taking the first job they're offered. So no hate to the cast!!!

The theatre running the production is Hayes Theatre Co, based in Sydney. I loved this theatre company, because they had a clear focus on amplifying the voices of marginalised performers, however it seems this does not extend to disabled performers.

For a company that has such a focus on diverse stories I was incredibly disappointed (but entirely unsurprised) to see that Ricky is being played by an able-bodied actor. The cast has racial, gender, and size diversity (which don't get me wrong, is wonderful), but its devastating to see that Hayes has clearly licensed the newer edition of the script, the one that erases any visible sign of Ricky's disability.

For a theatre that emphasises authentic, diverse representation on its stage, it is disgusting to see them perform a show that is a mockery of the disabled experience, created by a man who has used disability as his punchline for his entire career; the version of the script licensed being influenced by the very people who hate crimed the marginalised performer they were supposed to protect.

There are many fun shows Hayes could have picked up that are a much much better representation of the disabled experience -- Tae Tae in the Land of Yaas (an Australian Production, again something this company tends to showcase on their stage), The Little Big Things, How To Dance in Ohio, just to name a few. Instead they had to choose the one that is violently ableist and presents Ricky as a caricature of the stereotypical non-verbal disabled kid. They chose the show in which it is easily accessible knowledge that Ricky is supposed to be physically, and visibly, disabled, but that it was changed due to the author's inadvertent support of a violent hate-crime against a marginalised performer.

yannick-robin did not risk his fucking career bravely speaking out about this for it to be completely ignored and glossed over. he did not risk legal action from the very people who hurt him only for people to pretend the show was never problematic because its more convenient for them.

I feel like I'm screaming into a void here, begging for people to listen. Disabled people deserve to have their stories told authentically and safely. Ride the Cyclone is not authentic. It is not a safe show for disabled performers. It has done nothing but harm disabled people.

Hayes Theatre Co, you are now complicit in the damage this show has done to the disabled theatre community. You are complicit in the crimes of Jacob Richmond, Sarah Rasmussen, and her team of ableist shitheads. And if you say "oh they probably don't know"... If a professional theatre company in one of Australia's biggest theatre centres can't be assed to properly research the shows they are producing, then maybe they shouldn't be in the industry.

Hayes Theatre Co, if you say you care about diversity then ignore disabled people, you don't actually care about diversity. You care about being palatable to your audience.