The national tour of The Graduate is embroiled in a dispute after a national tabloid ran an article which claimed that the play?s star Glynis Barber had agreed a ?no nudity? clause in her contract.
The management at Southend-on-Sea?s Cliffs Pavilion felt they had been led to believe that that there would be no difference between the touring production and the earlier version staged in the West End, yet the show?s producers are adamant that no nudity was ever promised.
The recent stage adaptation of the acclaimed 1967 film starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft attracted continual media attention during its two-year London run for the brief scene of nudity performed by its series of stars including Linda Gray, Kathleen Turner, Jerry Hall and Amanda Donohoe. However, following a Daily Mail story last month, Cliffs Pavilion managers sought clarification from the show?s producers as to whether or not the scene would be performed nude. A spokesman for Southend Borough Council, operator of the Cliffs Pavilion said ?It is the Council?s belief that the show was sold to the theatre on the basis of its West End success and content and at no point prior to contracts being exchanged did the producers suggest that the touring production would be any different from that which appeared in the West End.? Theatre Director, Chas Mumford added, ?It is the principle upon which the show has been sold to us which we are questioning.? Despite earlier press reports to the contrary, Southend Borough Council insists that it has neither threatened nor considered cancelling the performance, though Mumford did ask the producers for ?recognition that we are marketing the production in different circumstances.? However, producer Sacha Brooks has refused to renegotiate the terms of the contract, stating that ?No nudity was ever promised.? He denied that there was any ?nudity clause? within Ms Barber?s contract, and said the issue of nudity was specifically raised in the marketing materials sent to theatres in order to avoid this being exploited in the marketing of the production.