Non-disabled Richard III actor to press on despite calls for recast

Michelle Terry in a promotional image for Richard III. An open letter says her casting ‘reduces disability down to a disguise and physical act’. Photograph: PR

The artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe has pushed on with playing Richard III in a summer production, but vowed not to “alter [her] physicality” following a backlash over not casting a disabled actor in the role.

The Globe was criticised after it announced that Michelle Terry would play the role of Shakespeare’s scheming king who describes himself as “deformed, unfinish’d”.