Francesca Amewudah-Rivers interview (The Stage)

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.”….