‘Part of the job’: Actors’ experiences of bullying and harassment

Ian Maxwell, Mark Seton and Marianna Szabó

Full text | PDF

Abstract

This article revisits qualitative data collected as part of the Australian Actors’ Wellbeing Survey in 2012 in context of the impact of the subsequent #MeToo movement, and the high-profile court cases involving allegations of inappropriate behaviour in rehearsals. In so doing, the article raises questions about the visibility of a range of behaviours, and the meaning attributed to those behaviours once they are brought into visibility. We argue that understandings of inappropriate behaviour in rehearsal are caught between the Charybdis of a judicial system predicated on a positivist demonstration of corroborated truth on one hand, and the Scylla of anecdote on the other. Analysis of the data collected in 2012 mediates this opposition, establishing a baseline for understanding the complexity and pervasiveness of inappropriate rehearsal behavior, grounded in an attention to the experiences of working actors.

Keywords

Actors’ Wellbeing; Rehearsal; Bullying and Harassment; #MeToo

To cite this article

Maxwell, Ian, et al. “‘Part of the Job’: Actors’ Experiences of Bullying and Harassment.” Fusion Journal, no. 17, 2020, pp. 79-95. https://fusion-journal.com/part-of-the-job-actors-experiences-of-bullying-and-harassment/

First published online: April 2020