West End theatre company blasts racial abuse directed at Black actor starring in Romeo and Juliet

‘This must stop,’ said Jamie Lloyd Theatre company

A leading theatre company has been forced to condemn a “barrage of deplorable racial abuse” directed towards a black actor set to star in its forthcoming production of Romeo & Juliet.

Director Jamie Lloyd, who cast Francesca Amewudah-Rivers as Juliet alongside Spiderman actor Tom Holland as Romeo in Shakespeare’s tragic love story, angrily rebuked a wave of social media trolls following the announcement.

The Jamie Lloyd Company said today that “this must stop” after disclosing that a member of the company had been on the receiving end of horrific racial abuse.

“We are working with a remarkable group of artists. We insist that they are free to create work without facing online harassment.”

“Bullying and harassment have no place online, in our industry or in our wider communities.”

Francesca Amewudah-Rivers and Tom Holland will play star-crossed-lovers (Jamie Lloyd Company )

The theatre company added that it will continue to support everyone in their company and warned that any abuse directed towards their actors will be reported.

“Our rehearsal room is full of joy, compassion and kindness. We celebrate the extraordinary talent of our incredible collaborators. The Romeo & Juliet community will continue to rehearse with generosity and love, and focus on the creation of our production,” the statement read.

Amewudah-Rivers is best known for playing Blessing in the Jack Whitehall comedy TV series Bad Education and played Gifty in Jocelyn Bioh’s play School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play at the Lyric Hammersmith theatre last year.

Amewudah-Rivers will be making her West End debut in Jamie Lloyd’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (Jamie Lloyd Company)

Marvel star Holland said after the casting announcement that he was “beyond excited” to play Romeo.

“I can’t wait to get started and I know we’ll create something really special together,” he said.

Amewudah-Rivers added: “I’m so grateful to be making my West End debut as Juliet with The Jamie Lloyd Company. It’s a dream to be joining this team of incredible artists with Jamie at the helm.

Amewudah-Rivers pictured in December (PA)

“I’m excited to bring a fresh energy to this story alongside Tom, and to welcome new audiences to the theatre.”

Director Jamie Lloyd called Amewudah-Rivers “an exceptional young artist”.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, which was originally written between 1591 and 1595, has recreated and reimagined by a number of times by different theatre practitioners in recent years. Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso) and Isis Hainsworth (Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour) starred as Romeo and Juliet, respectively, in the Almeida Theatre’s production last year.

In 2021, How to Get Away With Murder’s Alfred Enoch and In My Skin actor Rebekah Murrell starred as the romantic leads at Shakespeare’s Globe.

Jamie Lloyd’s Romeo and Juliet opens at the Duke of York’s Theatre on 23 May and runs until 3 August.