The musicians Sting and Mark Knopfler have co-signed a letter with leading theatre producers and actors, warning that they will be obliged to resign their memberships of the men-only Garrick Club if members refuse to approve a decision to admit women in a vote next Tuesday.
The letter, seen by the Guardian, was also signed by the actor Stephen Fry, the West End and Broadway theatre producer Karl Sydow, and Matthew Byam Shaw, an executive producer on The Crown television series and co-founder of Playful West End theatre production company.
Their concerns appear to have been primarily triggered by the bad publicity that the club’s men-only membership has provoked in the past few weeks, rather than the discriminatory nature of the membership rules.
“We write as Garrick members who produce/co-produce and manage over 35 current productions in the West End and regionally. The current very public controversy over this issue has put us all in an untenable position. Our relations with female artists, co-producers, authors, cast members, members of our creative teams, backstage and front of house theatre staff have all been jeopardised by the recent publicity to the point that, without serious progress being made to finally address this anomaly, we won’t feel able to continue as Garrick members,” they write in the letter to the Garrick chair, Christopher Kirker.
David Parfitt, founder of Trademark Films, Jonathan Church, founder of Jonathan Church Theatre Productions, and Mark Goucher, founder of Mark Goucher Productions, also signed the letter.
The Garrick was founded in 1831 as a place where “actors and men of refinement and education might meet on equal terms” and where “patrons of the drama and its professors” would be brought together. The theatre producers and musicians warned in the letter: “The first aim of the club will be rendered impossible because no member of our profession will feel able in all conscience to be a member of the Garrick, certainly no prominent artist or producer. No one employed by a publicly funded body will be allowed to be a member.”
The head of the civil service, Simon Case, the head of MI6, Richard Moore, and at least four senior judges resigned their membership of the club in March after the Guardian published the names of about 50 high-profile members of the men-only club. Both Case and Moore had conversations with colleagues before deciding they could no longer remain members of a club that has since the 1960s repeatedly blocked motions proposing that women should be allowed to join.
Women are only allowed in the club if they are invited in by a member, and accompanied by a man throughout their visit.
Among the club’s 1,500 members are King Charles; Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister; Michael Gove, the communities secretary; and leading figures within the arts, including the head of the Royal Opera House and prominent actors such as Brian Cox and his Succession co-star Matthew Macfadyen, Hugh Bonneville and Benedict Cumberbatch. Just over 50% of members voted to admit women the last time the question was voted on in 2015, but a two-thirds majority was required for the club rules to change.
Intense internal rows among members have followed an emergency committee meeting held in early April, where committee members accepted new legal advice that there was nothing in the club rules to prevent women from becoming members. A vote is due to be held at a special general meeting on 7 May on whether to approve the committee’s decision that women should now be admitted to the club, based on this new interpretation of the rules. This time only a simple majority of more than 50% will be required.
Acknowledging that there is intense resistance to change among some members, the letter adds: “Those who oppose this measure because it will ‘change the club’ will find the club changed beyond recognition to the lasting detriment of its artistic standing. Our motto is ‘All the world’s a stage’ but the stage at the Garrick will be empty. We fervently urge you not to let this happen.”
The club’s membership book lists Sting under his real name, Gordon Sumner, naming him as a “distinguished member” of the club, elected in 2023. The Garrick has been contacted for comment.