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Friday, April 12, 2024
800 Black Actors Sign Letter in Support of ROMEO & JULIET Star Following 'Racist and Misogynistic Abuse'
www.broadwayworld.com: Over 800 Black actors have signed a letter in support of Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, who has faced racially-targeting bullying after being cast as Juliet in Romeo & Juliet in London.
2 comments:
Penny Preovolos
said...
It's disgusting that such direct acts of racism and discrimination are so visible in today's day and age. It is a horrible thing to see such a sad article on this news page and I wish those actors didn’t have to feel the need to have 800 people sign a letter in support of a young fellow actress. I find that there is always a certain amount of backlash that will be exhibited by bigoted mindsets whenever diverse casting is made. But it seems to me that it increases tenfold when it happens with something that is considered a “classic” like Shakespeare. I have read similar articles with similar types of backlash and criticism with other diverse cats into older pieces like Shakespeare or what has been predominantly performed by white, thin, and abled actors. I hope that DEIB training in universities and high schools as well as the world in general will hopefully create a more positive rhetoric around diverse casting in the theater world.
It’s so upsetting that such unashamed racism is still so outwardly and inwardly present in our world and in the theatergoers community. It has surprised me how large the backlash has been considering the West End tends to feature casts of diversity, especially compared to its broadway counterpart, and I haven’t heard of such a backlash to casting like this in the past few years. Either that is my own ignorance or lack of involvement or in my thought it is because Tom Holland, a famous white male actor, who is cast as her counterpart is a part of the production, bringing along a lot of the toxic superhero fans (of which I have unfortunately seen much bigotry in those communities, weird considering how like everyone is aliens and whatnot) over to this part of social media. I am glad that so much support has been showered on Francesca Amewudah-Rivers and I wish her much success in the role, and if I somehow find myself in London I will be sure to check out this production. I also find it fascinating how many weird crazy versions of Shakespeare have been done without backlash at this scale but casting a dark skin black woman triggers this kind of response, it’s so ridiculous and disgusting.
2 comments:
It's disgusting that such direct acts of racism and discrimination are so visible in today's day and age. It is a horrible thing to see such a sad article on this news page and I wish those actors didn’t have to feel the need to have 800 people sign a letter in support of a young fellow actress. I find that there is always a certain amount of backlash that will be exhibited by bigoted mindsets whenever diverse casting is made. But it seems to me that it increases tenfold when it happens with something that is considered a “classic” like Shakespeare. I have read similar articles with similar types of backlash and criticism with other diverse cats into older pieces like Shakespeare or what has been predominantly performed by white, thin, and abled actors. I hope that DEIB training in universities and high schools as well as the world in general will hopefully create a more positive rhetoric around diverse casting in the theater world.
It’s so upsetting that such unashamed racism is still so outwardly and inwardly present in our world and in the theatergoers community. It has surprised me how large the backlash has been considering the West End tends to feature casts of diversity, especially compared to its broadway counterpart, and I haven’t heard of such a backlash to casting like this in the past few years. Either that is my own ignorance or lack of involvement or in my thought it is because Tom Holland, a famous white male actor, who is cast as her counterpart is a part of the production, bringing along a lot of the toxic superhero fans (of which I have unfortunately seen much bigotry in those communities, weird considering how like everyone is aliens and whatnot) over to this part of social media. I am glad that so much support has been showered on Francesca Amewudah-Rivers and I wish her much success in the role, and if I somehow find myself in London I will be sure to check out this production. I also find it fascinating how many weird crazy versions of Shakespeare have been done without backlash at this scale but casting a dark skin black woman triggers this kind of response, it’s so ridiculous and disgusting.
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