Cripping-up

Cripping-up is the act of casting an actor without an apparent/visible disability into a role which is either scripted as having a disability, or into the role of an historical figure who is known to have been disabled. The term is from the audience's perspective where the visibly apparent disability is mimicked by an actor who does not have physical, sensory or communication disability. This does not always include disabled actors being cast in roles with different conditions to their own as the practice of transposing a condition in to a role can creatively work because the actor has a "lived experience" of disability.

The term "cripping-up" began to appear in mainstream media around 2010. It is a derivative of the word " crip" and is used to call out certain casting practices in stage, TV drama and film production with particular focus on The Academy Awards on screen and the portrayal of disabled icons such as King Richard III, Frida Kahlo or Joseph Merrick, Alexander Pope or disabled fictional characters such as Tiny Tim, Meshak Gardiner or Nessarose on stage. The academic discussion, focuses on the extent of the practice and the nuances in its interpretation, which extends to exploring the differences between embodiment and impersonation, and how without the lived experience of disability changes the relationship between the audience and the production through ‘the cure of the curtain call’ (i.e. the moment when a non-disabled performer is revealed as such after portraying a disabled character). This issue was further mapped out in the MacTaggart lecture delivered by screenwriter Jack Thorne at the Edinburgh Television Festival in 2021.

A call against cripping-up has become part of the disability rights movement, and a vocal lobby of acting and creative professions are actively engaged with the industry for more authentically and creatively when it comes to disability portrayal. This includes industry professionals such as the director of ''My Left Foo''t, Jim Sheridan and others within the industry have joined this call for change. This has led to instances such as disabled actors and writers calling on the UK TV and film industry at BAFTA to be more proactive.

As a result, there are more TV, Film and stage productions are casting authentically or incidentally, with organisations like Netflix and BBC Studios forming a disabled writers partnership, The Profile was launched in 2021 which is casting resource created by the Royal National Theatre giving the industry access to professional disabled actor showcases. Channel 4 (UK) created new guidance for portrayal, and the Creative Diversity Network (CDN) has developed the data platform Diamond, which is used by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Paramount, S4C, Warner Bros. Discovery, UKTV and Sky TV to obtain consistent diversity data on programmes they commission which includes disability representation onscreen.

There are parallels with movement for better representation for Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities which have led the way with colour-blind casting, that covers incidental portrayal. The emotion felt by disabled communities was summed up by Frances Ryan in The Guardian 2015.

"...disabled characters create powerful images and sentiments for audiences. They can symbolise the triumph of the human spirit over so-called “adversity”. They can represent what it is to be “different” in some way, an outsider or an underdog who ultimately becomes inspirational. These are universal feelings every audience member can identify with. And there is something a little comforting in knowing, as we watch the star jump around the red carpet, that none of it – the pain or negativity we still associate with disability – was real. Perhaps that's part of the problem. Perhaps as a society we see disability as a painful external extra rather than a proud, integral part of a person, and so it doesn't seem quite as insulting to have non-disabled actors don prosthetics or get up from a wheelchair when the director yells “cut”. But for many disabled people in the audience, this is watching another person fake their identity. When it comes to race, we believe it is wrong for the story of someone from a minority to be depicted by a member of the dominant group for mass entertainment. But we don't grant disabled people the same right to self-representation."

The call for change in industry practices has come from organisations such as 1in4 Coalition, Equity UK, TripleC, UK Disability Arts Alliance as well as disabled actors such as Kurt Yeager, Amy Trigg and Liz Carr

Visible disability characteristics

Disability portrayal, whether it is authentic or incidental, focuses on cultural markers that show the audience a character has trait, need or condition without having to state what the condition is. Traits or needs are aspects of a character a writer or director may identify without stating what the cause is, because the cause my not be central to the story. When stories are about historical figures their conditions are often well documented.

Fictional characters can be less obvious and often disability characteristics are described rather than the writer medically naming specific conditions. This can be seen in plays like The Metamorphosis where the changing into a bug, the main character has difficulty interfacing with a world that is neither designed for him or accepting of him, which are core to understanding what is referred to as the disability lived experience.

The works of Samuel Beckett use literal disability as a metaphor to explore ideas of hopelessness, dependency and autonomy, but the characters such as Winnie and Willie in Happy Days, Pozzo and Estragon in Waiting for Godot, and Hamm, Clov, Nagg and Nell in Endgame, all have physical disability characteristics. In her book, ''Samuel Beckett and Disability Performance'', author Hannah Simpson reveals how Beckett's theatre compulsively interrogates alternative embodiments, unexpected forms of agency, and the extraordinary social interdependency of the human body.

Being creative is about making interesting choices. Having an actor who is disabled play either a disable role or a role that is not scripted as disabled is always an interesting choice as it changes the relationship with the audience, knowing the visible condition being seen isn’t an act challenges the audiences own preconceptions about disability. Because Ableism, negative unconscious biases and patronising attitudes towards disabled people in general exist, these add layers to an audience experience a non-disabled actor can’t access. As Ford-Williams once said, “putting a disabled person on a stage is a postmodernist act in itself.”

Academic and performer Jessie Parrot coined the phrase, “the cure of the curtain call,” highlighting this change of relationship between a production and an audience going beyond the final bow and having a deeper impact beyond just one of entertainment.

On screen

Despite there being Representation and Inclusion Standards published by the Academy for use in the Oscars, having a section on representation 'A3. Main storyline/subject matter', there is no guidance on authenticity and discrimination in the casting process. Disabled roles have been played by non-disabled actors going back to the silent era, with films like ''The Penalty'' in 1920, and ''City Lights'' 1931 and ''Frankenstein'' 1931, being early examples where non-disabled actors played disabled character on-screen.

There were few disabled actors before the 1990s available to play authentic or incidental roles, and the few examples were mostly covered by only 6 actors;
* Esmond Knight, was blinded during a sea battle in WW2 and went back to he pre-war profession of acting. He played bot sighted and vision impaired roles appearing in all three of Laurence Olivier's Shakespeare films, as well as appearing as the captain of HMS Prince of Wales in Sink the Bismark!, where he served in WW2 and lost his sight in the battle the film portrayed. Other notable appearances were in Elizabeth R, I, Claudius and Superman IV, The Quest for Peace
* Lionel Barrymore contended with various disabling physical conditions throughout his life, but had a successful stage and screen career, appearing in films such as It's a Wonderful Life and Key Largo
* Harold Russell, after losing his hands during his military service, Russell was cast in the epic drama film ''The Best Years of Our Lives'' (1946), which earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1947
* Marlee Maitlin, was the first Deaf actress to feature in a mainstream movie and won the Academy Award for Best Actress in the process, ''Children of a Lesser God'' and ''CODA''
* Donald Gray, starred in the lead role as the one armed detective Mark Saber in the 1950s TV drama ''The Vise''
* Peter Falk who was vision impaired and had a glass eye, starred as the much loved detective Columbo
Historically the majority of disabled roles went to non-disabled actors but with more disabled actors available, the number of instances of cripping-up has decreased with the majority of disabled characters being authentically cast:
* ''Wicked'' (The movie) 2024. After 20 years of stage productions where Nessarose was played by non-disabled actors, the movie has tackled this by casting Marissa Bode and Cesily Collette Taylor (as a child) in the role, both of whom are wheelchair users.
* ''Echo'' 2023 to 2024 by Marvel, cast Alaqua Cox as the main role, who is also Deaf
* ''Shardlake'' 2024 by Disney cast Arthur Hughes, a physically disabled actor in the lead role. Arthur said in an interview about the series that Shardlake's disability was, "the least interesting thing about him."
* '' The Hardacres'' 2024 on cast Zak Ford-Williams as Harry Hardacre, the youngest son who has Little's Disease
* Bridgerton, Season 3 2024, introduced two new characters, Lady Stowell who is Deaf is played by Sophie Wooley, and Lord Remington who uses a bath chair played by Zak Ford-Williams who is a wheelchair user
* ''The Fall of the House of Usher'' 2023 featured Ruth Codd who is an actor and amputee, as Juno
* ''All The Light We Cannot See'' 2023, authentically cast Aria Mia Loberti as blind teenager Marie-Laure
* '' Ralph and Katie'' 2022 was a spin-off series from ''The A-Word'' by Tiger Aspect and the main roles are played by Sarah Gordy and Leon Harrop who are actors with Downs Syndrome

Disability in the Marvel and DC universes

To illustrate the extent of cripping-up on screen and the movement away from the practice, these are the instances of disability casting for superheroes and super villains.

This genre of storytelling is littered with characters who are disabled and have had to overcome barriers, then face more barriers because of stigma, attitudes and prejudice towards difference. A core theme of X-Men is otherness, and it dives deeply into different types of prejudice.

There are over 100 characters in the combined DC and Marvel who have physical, sensory or other apparent disabilities, many have yet to make an appearance on-screen. This list focuses on live action productions and identifies what roles have been cast authentically in terms of disability characteristic, and which have been played by non-disabled actors, purely as an example of how widespread cripping-up has been. This is not a reflection on the choices made by the actors as historically there has been less awareness and historically there have been fewer actors with disabilities.

Portrayal by non-disabled actors

Authentic casting

On stage

Disabled characters in stage plays have a longer history stretching as far back as Tiresias in ''Oedipus'', by Sophocles. There are many disabled historical disabled figures as well as disabled fictional characters such as Laura in ''The Glass Menagerie,'' Meshak Gardiner in ''Coram Boy'', Colin in ''The Secret Garden,'' Captain Ahab ''in Moby Dick'', Barquentine in ''Gormenghast or The Monster in Frankenstein,'' that whom, up until recently, have not been accessible to disabled actors. Like film and television, this has changed with mainstream theatre companies casting more disabled actors and enabling the disabled community to reclaim their stories.

Disability characteristics and characters in Shakespeare's plays

Before the 1900s disabilities were more commonplace due to wars, poor healthcare and work related injuries, with disabled people playing active roles in society. In royalty and nobility disabled people were visible, an example being such as Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, whom like Richard III had scoliosis. Disabled people played important roles at court, such as The Fool, who was often someone with a learning, cognitive or physical disability such as cerebral palsy, and there are clues to this with the Fool being named " Gobbo", in the Merchant of Venice, which was an offensive Italian word for Hunchback. Other times references are more direct characters being referred to as “deformed”, “cripple”, ''“sick”'' or ''“monstrous''", such as the mention of Katherina's impairment, ''"Why does the world report that Kate doth limpe?'', or references to "palsy" in Henry VI Part 2, Richard II and Troilus and Cressida, ''"And with a palsy fumbling on his gorget".''

Based on the scripts and historical evidence there are disability signifiers for 26 characters in 19 plays.

Court jesters

Jesters were often people who had a particular level of privilege, but who also had learning, cognitive or physical disabilities, and so disability casting is considered historically accurate.

The following characters are identified as fools.

* Dogberry in ''Much Ado About Nothing''
* Falstaff in ''Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2''
* Feste in ''Twelfth Night'' – the "wise fool
* Grumio in ''The Taming of the Shrew''
* Lavache in ''All's Well That Ends Well''
* Nick Bottom in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''
* Pompey in ''Measure for Measure''
* Puck in '' A'' ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' – Jester to the fairy king, Oberon
* The Fool in ''King Lear''
* The Gravediggers in ''Hamlet''
* The Porter in ''Macbeth''
* Thersites in ''Troilus and Cressida''
* Touchstone in ''As You Like It''
* Trinculo in ''The Tempest''

Richard III

A role that has been at the forefront of the Theatre and Disability movement is the Duke of Gloucester/The King in Shakespeare's play ''Richard III''. This is not because the king himself had scoliosis, which is exaggerated in the play, but one of the key themes of the play is Ableism and the attitudes of his family and the court towards Richard, in part shaping whom he became and how he acted.

Since 2004, King Richard III has been played by the following disabled actors:

* Michael Patrick, 2024 at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast
* Zak Ford-Williams (Alternate), 2024 at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast
* Katy Sullivan 2024 at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre in Chicago
* Arthur Hughes, 2022 at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon
* Kate Mulvany, 2022 at Bell Shakespeare in Melbourne
* Tom Mothersdale, 2019 at the Bristol Old Vic in Bristol
* Jan Potměšil, 2017 at Theater in Celetná & Klubovna, in Prague
* Mat Frazer, 2017 Northern Broadsides production at the Hull Truck Theatre in Kingston upon Hull, and Viaduct Theatre in Halifax
* Michael Patrick Thornton, 2016 at The Gift Theatre in Chicago
* Peter Dinklage, 2004 at The Public Theatre in New York
In a recent article in The Stage, Josefa MacKinnon, creative programme developer for access and inclusion at the Royal Shakespeare Company, states that non-disabled actors playing the role as disabled should be a thing of the past.

“I think there are a lot of audiences that find it very difficult to watch non-disabled actors playing disabled characters.”

Esmond Knight and Incidental Disability Casting

When it comes to casting disabled actors in Shakespeare, none have played such a range of non-disabled characters in the canon as disabled actor Esmond Knight, whom despite being blind was cast in 19 different roles in 12 of Shakespeare's plays. These demonstrate the range of characters that can be played by disabled actors within the canon.

Stage Performances

Source:
* Camillo in A Winter's Tale, Cambridge Theatre London (1966)
* Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, Old Vic Theatre (1963)
* Baptista in The Taming of the Shrew, Aldwych Theatre (1960)
* Belzanor in Antony and Cleopatra, St Jame's Theatre, London (1951)
* Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, King's Theatre, Hammersmith (1946)

Royal Shakespeare Credits (1948/49)

* Ghost/Gravedigger in Hamlet
* Christopher Sly in The Taming of the Shrew
* Leontes in The Winter's Tale
* Thersites in Troilus and Cressida
* Chatillon in King John
* Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice

Screen Credits

* Old Man in King Lear (1984)
* Priam in Troilus and Cressida (1981)
* Lepidus in Antony and Cleopatra (1981)
* Ratcliffe in Richard III (1955)
* Banquo in Macbeth (1949)
* Bernardo in Hamlet (1948)
* Fluellen - Captain in the English Army in Henry V (1944)

Incidental portrayal

Incidental disability portrayal is different to authentic portrayal as it is about having the right to portray a role regardless of whether a character is scripted as having a disability or not. An example of this is ''Bridgerton'' series 3 on Netflix, 2024. Shondaland cast two visibly disabled actors in roles that were not scripted with a disability story. Sophie Woolley was cast as Lady Stowell, and Zak Ford-Williams as Lord Remmington.

In Theatre and Disability terms if a play does not say how a character enters a room, why do we assume they walked. Unconscious biases towards disabled actors are seen as the biggest barriers to inclusion.

Zak Ford-Williams wrote in 2024, ''"I feel amidst the advances being made embedding D/deaf, neurodivergent and disability equality within our industry, a disabled person on a stage or screen is still a political act. The presence of marginalised groups can bring about social and political change: the normalised presence of marginalised groups cements it."''

Progressive condition portrayal

In 2014 despite his award-winning portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking the film ''The Theory of Everything'', the casting of Eddie Redmayne came under scrutiny as to whether portraying someone with a progressive condition constituted "cripping-up", as this raised questions and suggestions that included having two actors, or even using CGI. The practicalities where all theoretical until in contrast the BBC's 2022 drama production Better, cast the disabled actor Zak Ford-Williams in a role where at first he had to mask his cerebral palsy, and then unmask it after his character Owen survives meningitis. Ford-Williams used his experience as a physically disabled actor who has had to learn to walk again twice after medial procedures, which demonstrated the possibility of disabled actors playing progressive conditions.

References

{{reflist

Disability theatre
Ableism in the United States
Ableism in the United Kingdom
Plays and musicals about disability
Fictional characters with disabilities
Disability in the arts
Ableism
Films about people with paraplegia or tetraplegia
Films about disability
Disability in television
Films about Franklin D. Roosevelt
Television shows about disability
Television episodes about disability
Disability
Disability rights
Disability culture
Cultural depictions of disabled people
Works about amputees
Films about amputees
Films about blind people
Films about deaf people
Television shows about deaf people