Last week, the most serious to have since emerged here – that Opera Australia tenor David Lewis sexually abused a teenage member of the children’s chorus in the 1990s – resulted in him being jailed for three years. Australian actress Yael Stone’s bombshell accusations this week in the New York Times and on the ABC’s 7.30 program against Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush thrust the issue back into the spotlight. Yael Stone and Geoffrey Rush in 2010 during rehearsals for The Diary of a Madman. Credit:Jeff Busby Stone, who starred in Netflix's hit US show Orange Is The New Black, alleged that Rush danced "totally naked" in front of her in their dressing room and used a mirror to watch her while she showered during Belvoir St Theatre's 2010-11 season of The Diary of A Madman in Sydney. In response, Rush said the allegations were incorrect and some incidents had been taken totally out of context. "However, clearly Yael has been upset on occasion by the spirited enthusiasm I generally bring to my work," he said.

Stone's allegations have come after Rush sued Rupert Murdoch's Nationwide News in the Federal Court over two news stories and a newsagent poster alleging "inappropriate behaviour" towards a cast member during the Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear. Rush, who performed the lead role, vehemently denies the claims. Industry veterans such as Neil Armfield (who directed Rush in both King Lear and Diary of a Madman), and actors Judy Davis and Robyn Nevin, testified in his defence in the Federal Court. (Justice Michael Wigney will deliver his judgment early next year.) One senior industry figure said the case, and the broader issue, had divided the sector along generational lines. “I think there are a lot people in the industry over 60 who are quaking in their boots right now,” the figure said. “There are some directors who, I suspect, will never be hired again because of behaviour in the past, especially bullying, that would just not be deemed acceptable now.” Opera Australia chief executive Rory Jeffes said the Lewis case had been "distressing" for the whole company.

Lewis, a long-time member of the opera chorus, was charged late last year with historic child sex offences, some of which took place at the Sydney Opera House in 1993 when he was aged 34. He pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated indecent assault of a victim under the age of 16 and two counts of sexual intercourse with a person 14 or over and under 16. Opera singer David Lewis arrives at court in Sydney last week.. Credit:AAP Jeffes said the issue of safety – physical and emotional safety, but also being free from sexual harassment and bullying – was "incredibly important", and to that end the company had reviewed its policies and implemented new practices. Now, before every production, the cast and crew receive a briefing on what constitutes sexual harassment, misconduct and bullying.

"Clearly now there is zero tolerance," he said. "If someone makes a complaint, it has to be acted upon." Many companies now use intimacy coaches to oversee any touching required in a role, while others have incorporated such contact into the choreography, checking that each person involved is comfortable with every movement. Actress Chloe Dallimore, federal president of Actors' Equity, says "there can no longer be any excuse" for inappropriate behaviour. Credit:Blueprint Studios In April the Victorian government announced it would tie its funding for arts organisations to a requirement that they meet its standards around harassment, discrimination and bullying. In September, Live Performance Australia, the peak body for the country's performing arts industry, implemented a wide-ranging industry code of practice to prevent workplace discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and bullying.

Performer and Actors' Equity president Chloe Dallimore has no time for those who argue special pleading on behalf of performance, as Neil Armfield appeared to on Q&A. “Even though our industry is unique and can be relaxed and playful and intimate it should still be safe,” she says. “We go to the workplace to work, we should all adhere to the same workplace rules around sexual harassment and bullying. There can no longer be any excuse.” Actors' Equity director Zoe Angus said the industry had made good progress in the past year, but the roll-out of new policies had been patchy. "There’s clearly some producers, and some companies that are taking these responsibilities very seriously," Angus said. "But there are others who are OK to leave it to performers and crew to familiarise themselves with the procedures." She worries that a zero-tolerance approach was leading to potentially unfair dismissals.

"I think there is certainly a discussion going on within the industry, so there’s a greater preparedness to be open about experiences. But we have to be careful as there have also been instances recently where people have been terminated for telling what is considered the equivalent of a dirty joke, with no procedures at all." In February, Linden Furnell was sacked from the stage musical American Idiot before its Melbourne opening. Furnell wrote on his Facebook page at the time that he had been fired from the show on account of "serious misconduct". He explained that the offence consisted of "a crude allusion to menstruation". While Furnell insisted he wasn't seeking pity and accepted he had behaved inappropriately, he added: "I wasn't asked to explain, give my account, dispute it or attempt resolution" before being dismissed. The producers declined his management's attempts at mediation. Elaine Crombie, an actor and comedian who has worked extensively on stage and screen, said that during the recent Melbourne Theatre Company production of Astroman, in which she appeared, there were signs fixed backstage addressing the issue. "When we went into the theatre at Arts Centre Melbourne, in the lifts especially and the dressing rooms, there was a lot of signage around, like about looking or leering, these eye-catching posters.

Elaine Crombie, who worked extensively on stage and screen, took part in the Safe Theatres forum. "It’s just different that it is there. It's in the lift from the stage door, not in the public lift. Its really interesting to have it ... it’s a new wave that’s come through theatres and it's giving people a bit of comfort." Crombie took part in a Safe Theatres forum in March and said she was impressed that the heads of major and independent theatre companies attended and had made a clear commitment to change. "Its just something that we can be proud of, in that we’re all holding ourselves and each other ... to the same standards," she said. "Then we can focus on what we are really there to do." The Age requested an interview with Sydney Theatre Company executive director Patrick McIntyre and artistic director Kip Williams. The company declined and instead issued a statement.

“We really encourage people to speak up – a fear of adverse consequences is often cited as a reason people choose not to confront individuals acting inappropriately, or to report the behaviour," McIntyre said in the statement. He faced criticism for providing details of an off-the-record complaint, made in 2016, about Rush to the Telegraph in response to questions it submitted to the company in late 2017. The MTC's co-chief executive and general manager Virginia Lovett said she and MTC artistic director Brett Sheehy regularly check in with the cast and crew on each production, during rehearsals and once the show has started its run. They identify key staff who people can talk to if they feel uncomfortable.

"You’re trying to put building blocks in place so that they can say something and hopefully they can resolve it before it escalates." Lovett is emphatic that those efforts, and the measures introduced across the industry, have effected real change.