The director behind a new production of Romeo & Juliet is condemning the “barrage of deplorable racial abuse” seemingly directed at Tom Holland‘s co-star, Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, after she was cast as Juliet, and he says the abuse “must stop.”
Jamie Lloyd shared a statement condemning the harassment after his theater company announced the full cast of its upcoming run at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre. The cast includes Holland (Romeo), Amewudah-Rivers (Juliet), Freema Agyeman (nurse), Michael Balogun (friar), Tomiwa Edun (Capulet), Mia Jerome (Montague), Daniel Quinn-Toye (Count Paris) and Ray Sesay (Tybalt).
“Following the announcement of our Romeo & Juliet cast, there has been a barrage of deplorable racial abuse online directed towards a member of our company. THIS MUST STOP,” the statement read. “We are working with a remarkable group of artists. We insist that they are free to create work without facing online harassment.”
The statement continued, “We will continue to support and protect everyone in our company at all costs. Any abuse will not be tolerated and will be reported. Bullying and harassment have no place, in our industry or in our wider communities.”
While Lloyd never mentioned the cast member on the receiving end of the “deplorable racial abuse,” it’s Amewudah-Rivers’ Instagram post announcing her casting being flooded both with messages of support for earning the role and online trolls denouncing her selection as Juliet.
The new production of Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy will mark Holland’s return to the stage for the first time since he made his debut in Billy Elliot: The Musical when he was only 12 years old.
As for Amewudah-Rivers, Romeo & Juliet will mark her West End debut, but she has a ton of stage acting credits to her name, including School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Lyric Hammersmith), The Kola Nut Does Not Speak English (Bush), Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe), Antigone (Colchester Mercury) and Othello (National Youth Theatre REP Company), among others.
According to her bio on the Romeo & Juliet website, Amewudah-Rivers studied acting at the National Youth Theatre REP Company.
Romeo & Juliet runs from May 11 until August 3 at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London.
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