Francesca Amewudah-Rivers: I got death threats on Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet star Francesca Amewudah-Rivers has called for industry-wide action to protect black and brown actors from racist abuse, revealing that she did not "feel safe" while working on the West End production.

Speaking to The Stage about the racist backlash to the announcement of her lead casting opposite Tom Holland, Amewudah-Rivers revealed: "There were many days where I didn’t know how I was going to get through it."

As well as online harassment, Amewudah-Rivers said she received hate mail at the Duke of York’s Theatre and emphasised that "the flurry of abuse was sustained throughout the whole job".

“I received death threats, hate mail sent to the theatre,” she said. “ I didn’t feel safe at work.”

She was speaking to The Stage after being nominated for this year’s Black British Theatre Awards for her turn as Juliet.

Speaking about being in the play, Amewudah-Rivers added that the minimal set and close-up camerawork that characterised Jamie Lloyd’s production made her feel “very exposed” on stage.

"Off the back of the abuse, having to stare down the camera lens and have my face be blown up in this theatre was really tough mentally," she said.

She added that the harassment also affected her family and friends, as well as Romeo and Juliet’s cast, crew and producers Jamie Lloyd Company, who condemned the initial "barrage" of abuse in a statement on social media.

Romeo and Juliet marked Amewudah-Rivers’ West End debut, and also earned her a nomination for this year’s The Stage Debut Awards.

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Reflecting more than a month after the conclusion of its run, Amewudah-Rivers described the experience as an “incredibly tough” induction into the West End.

She told The Stage: "I know what it means to move through life in a black body. Racism is something we have to navigate every day, so I was very aware of the potential for something like this to happen.

"I think what I was unprepared for was how long it went on for, and also having to navigate it while doing the job. It was four months of battling against this energy, and it’s something I still have to deal with. I really had to reckon whether it was worth it, this sustained feeling of duress."

Now, having finished her turn as Juliet, Amewudah-Rivers has called for "broader conversations industry-wide" about the protection of global-majority actors, declaring: "It is not enough to represent our communities onstage, there also needs to be an infrastructure of support.

"Safety has to be at the forefront. We can’t do our best work if we don’t feel safe, if we don’t feel held, if we don’t feel understood. I think more needs to be done, especially because I know I’m not alone. I know other actors who have had similar experiences, more recently, too."

According to Amewudah-Rivers, the fact that her casting as Juliet was met with outrage also demonstrated the UK theatre sector was still lagging behind in terms of on-stage racial diversity onstage.

"For it to cause such outrage that I was cast in this role means we have a long way to go,” she told The Stage.

“Theatre has a legacy of community, it should represent society. Especially in London – there’s a big black British community here and in the UK. It shouldn’t be a surprise. Our histories as black people have been erased, it’s about re-education. I’m not the first black Juliet, and I won’t be the last."

She described the nomination for this year’s BBTAs as "a win" for the Romeo and Juliet company and the black creative community, adding: "It means more than I can say."

Romeo and Juliet co-stars Freema Agyeman, Mia Jerome and Joshua Alexander-Williams have also received nods in the 2024 BBTAs, with performer Layton Williams, producer Chuchu Nwagu and director Nancy Medina among the other nominees.