Romeo & Juliet theatre star suffers ‘barrage’ of online racial abuse
A theatre company has condemned the “barrage of deplorable racial abuse” that has been directed at a cast member of a new production of Romeo & Juliet.
In a statement on Friday, the Jamie Lloyd Company said the online abuse “must stop” and that further harassment would be reported. It came after the announcement of the full cast of the show, including Tom Holland and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers as Romeo and Juliet, alongside Freema Agyeman, Michael Balogun, Tomiwa Edun, Mia Jerome, Daniel Quinn-Toye and Ray Sesay.
“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,” the statement said. “This must stop. We are working with a remarkable group of artists. We insist that they are free to create work without facing online harassment.”
The company, run by the director Jamie Lloyd, said it would “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 online, in our industry or in our wider communities.”
Its rehearsal room for the show was “full of joy, compassion and kindness,” the company said.
It added: “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 play runs at the Duke of York’s Theatre from 11 May – 3 August. It will be the Spider-Man star Holland’s first major theatre role since his debut in Billy Elliot: The Musical.
Last summer, he said he was taking a break from acting after starring in the Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room, a psychological thriller that he also produced. The star has become one of Britain’s best-known young screen actors but owes his career to the stage.
Lloyd is known for mounting bold, megastar-led versions of classic plays such as Doctor Faustus with Kit Harington, Betrayal with Tom Hiddleston and The Seagull with Emilia Clarke. His new production of the musical Sunset Boulevard, with Nicole Scherzinger, recently ended a sold-out run at London’s Savoy theatre and is transferring to Broadway in September.
Last year Lloyd directed Taylor Russell and Paapa Essiedu in a revival of Lucy Prebble’s play The Effect at the National Theatre, before opening at the Shed in New York last month.
Romeo & Juliet is billed as “a pulsating new vision of Shakespeare’s immortal tale of wordsmiths, rhymers, lovers and fighters”. It is Lloyd’s first Shakespeare production since he staged Richard III at Trafalgar Studios in 2014, with Martin Freeman in the lead role.