Breaking: Many People Working In The Theatre Are Gay Shock!

'I was caught napping yesterday when the announcement came about the RSC’s appointment of a new artistic director — literally. I’d been up since 5.30am (my usual waking time, as it happens) and had already met three deadlines by 9am, so I did something I very rarely allow myself to do: I went back to bed [Yeah, whatever - Get on with it, love].
'By the time I woke up again around 11.22am, saw the press release and tweeted it (hence the precision with which I know what time I woke up!), the RSC was already trending on Twitter: that says something about the viral strength of Twitter as a medium for spreading news. [Gregory] Doran, of course, was the main rival to Michael Boyd getting the job last time around; and it is greatly to the credit both of Boyd in appointing him Chief Associate Director instead, and to Doran himself in staying on undaunted by the disappointment, that his turn has come now.

'His loyalty and determination have obviously finally paid off, and the top job is now his; he’s both a safe pair of hands and has truly earned it. And it coincidentally means that both of our major national theatre companies are now run by out gay men; at the National, the two Nicks (Hytner and executive director Starr) and now Doran, who is famously partnered to RSC/National leading actor Antony Sher, are amongst a wave of gay men in charge of some of the most successful venues in the country. (Doran and Sher were one of the first couples to get civil partnered back in 2005 when the legislation allowing it first became law).
'Elsewhere, of course, there was Michael Grandage, until recently at the helm of the Donmar (whose partner is Christopher Oram, who designs many of his productions); and there is also Dominic Cooke at the Royal Court; Daniel Evans at Sheffield’s Crucible; Kerry Michael at Stratford East and Timothy Sheader at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park, to name a few.
'Of course, their sexuality is secondary to their talent, and should be as unremarkable a fact of their lives as their hair colour (or even skin colour, though as I recently wrote here, that’s sometimes a remarkable fact, too, in an industry still dominated by white artistic directors). Even so, not all artistic directors are living as openly, and it’s sad that this list cannot be comprehensive.'

The Stage. 
And on that bombshell...