Performing arts union Equity has launched a campaign urging the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival to pay its actors, accusing organisers of “wage theft” ahead of this summer’s performances.

Set to run from 14 July to 2 August, the festival will be staged across King’s, Trinity, St John’s, and Downing. Equity have said that one of these colleges “has already refused permission for the festival to return to its grounds in 2026,” calling on the other three to do the same.

A petition titled “End Wage Theft at Cambridge Shakespeare Festival!” has been launched by Equity and campaigning platform Megaphone UK. It alleges that the festival’s Artistic Director, Dr David Crilly, “refuses to employ his actors as workers” and has “unlawfully withheld” pay in previous years.

The campaign follows a 2023 Employment Tribunal ruling that two former festival performers, Kit McGuire and Elizabeth Graham, were legally “workers” rather than volunteers. The tribunal found they were entitled to the National Minimum Wage, holiday pay, and statutory rest breaks.

It also ruled that the actors worked “extremely long days,” often on a “seven-day week,” and were paid only £50 to £150 per week in expenses. They were also barred from taking other work and expected to leaflet and dismantle sets as part of their duties.

Equity is demanding that Crilly “complies with the ruling of the tribunal judge” this summer, warning that continued non-compliance may threaten the festival’s future through further legal action. It has urged the colleges to refuse access to their grounds if Crilly fails to comply.

In 2023, Crilly called the campaign “vile” and “vindictive,” insisting performers knew they were volunteering and that the festival lacked the funds to pay them.

Tickets are sold for up to £20, with programmes sold separately. The festival, now in its 38th year, hopes to attract an audience of 25,000 throughout the eight weeks that it runs. A 2022 Tribunal found that its total budget exceeded £250,000.

Equity and Megaphone UK will stage a protest on Monday 14 July, starting on Queen’s Road and Garret Hostel Lane, and moving to King’s College Fellows’ Garden and St John’s College gardens. Equity President Lynda Rooke is expected to speak.

Crilly told Varsity that Equity is “a failing organisation, with ever diminishing membership and significance, desperately attempting to show strength by attacking institutions weaker than themselves”.

Crilly has accused Equity of a “deliberate strategy of sensationalist misinformation”. He denied that the festival attracts an annual audience of 25,000, and clarified that, while the festival’s most expensive tickets are £20, the majority of tickets sold this year are £16 concession tickets. He stated: “The irony of this is that we have only increased our ticket price to generate more income for the actors.”

Crilly also rejected accusations that the festival’s actors are paid “£0,” stating: “This has never been the case and this year the actors receive the equivalent of National Minimum Wage, PLUS free, luxury en-suite accommodation for the duration of the festival.”

Regarding claims that the festival’s overhead costs are “very low,” Crilly said: “Our accommodation costs alone this year are in excess of £160,000. Add to that the fee to the actors and our budget has far exceeded £200,000 before we even start to consider production costs”.

The festival’s director added: “The only thing threatening the continued existence of the Shakespeare Festival is Equity.”

A spokesperson for Equity stated: “Equity members are professionals who are entitled to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage for their work like any other worker. We want to see the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival succeed while complying with the law, and we are always open to discussions with Dr Crilly over the fair pay and conditions that would allow that to happen.”