The Jamie Lloyd Company has hit back after its production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet” has been the subject of what they call a “barrage of deplorable racial abuse” aimed at an unnamed cast member.
The play, directed by Jamie Lloyd (“Sunset Boulevard”), stars “Spider-Man: No Way Home” star Tom Holland as Romeo and Francesca Amewaduh-Rivers (“Sex Education”) as Juliet.
On Friday, the Jamie Lloyd Company issued a statement, saying: “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.”
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“Romeo & Juliet” is due to play at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre May 23 through Aug. 3. The run is already sold out.
And let's be honest, any intelligent marketing person would use even a single comment to try and get attention for their, ahem, difficult-to-market play
I don't understand how this play could possibly be hard to market, it's possibly the most famous English stage play with very famous people. What am I missing here?
You don't have to constantly justify or rationalise having ethnic minorities in your production. I kind of wish they'd just release a statement saying "fuck off racist scum" instead of the pitiful sounding hakuna matata stuff.