Young Vic Responds to TREE Authorship Allegations

BroadwayWorld has been following the story of the authorship row that has erupted regarding the production of Tree happening at Manchester International Festival and then the Young Vic.

Writers Sarah Henley and Tori Allen-Martin claim that they were forced off the new show TREE after working on it for four years, and that Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah were being credited as the creators.

Read our previous stories regarding Kwei-Armah's response and Elba's response.

The Young Vic has released a series of statements regarding the issue, in a blog post on their site.

"Any work which Tori and Sarah undertook historically was not for the current 2019 production of Tree, which is a new story based on Idris' original idea," they wrote. "The producers of the 2019 production of Tree have always acknowledged that Tori and Sarah worked with Idris Elba in 2015-16 on a script based on his original concept for a production. Tori and Sarah are not the original writers of the 2019 Tree script, which is why they are not credited as such."

Read the full post here.

In an attempt to find a positive outcome, Tori and Sarah have now founded Burn Bright, an organisation supporting female artists. It includes an open forum, connections to industry professionals willing to help or mentor, and a fund to cover first their legal fees, and then to support female playwrights in their careers. It has so far raised £15,000.

The pair recently shared their side of the story on the BBC's Front Row.

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