this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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The Jamie Lloyd Company has hit back after its production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet” has been the subject of what they call a “barrage of deplorable racial abuse” aimed at an unnamed cast member.

The play, directed by Jamie Lloyd (“Sunset Boulevard”), stars “Spider-Man: No Way Home” star Tom Holland as Romeo and Francesca Amewaduh-Rivers (“Sex Education”) as Juliet. 

On Friday, the Jamie Lloyd Company issued a statement, saying: “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. This must stop.”

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Romeo and Juliet is the stupidest target for this when all of Shakespeare has been interpreted in wildly diverging ways, skin color would be the smallest of which (and where was it stated that Juliet was white?)

[–] [email protected] 45 points 7 months ago (6 children)

The story says she's from a noble family in North Italy. Most likely she has olive skin tone.

[–] lurch 26 points 7 months ago

i hope she's extra virgin tho

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Not that the skin tone matters much but you’ve obviously never been to northern Italy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Where they're white as fuck.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Well that explains why everyone was so up in arms like this over historical skin tone accuracy when Romeo and Juliet were played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. /s

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, that movie was made before anyone knew what woke meant. In fact, most people still don't know what it means, but that hasn't stopped anybody using it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Don't even funking try to tell me Mercutio wasn't woke in that version of R&J. He was glorious!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Italy is quite diverse like Spain in terms of skin tone. There are plenty of white skinned and olive skinned Mediterraneans.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

How did you get down votes for that?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You can get down votes for anything. Because they're free.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Went for the dad joke.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Probably some Northern Italians taking offense at the incorrect generalism about their skin tone?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You know that she was portrayed by a non-Italian for the first few hundred years, right?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Of course. Italy didn't exist yet when the play was written.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

The place has been called Italia since at least 49BC

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Wait, do you think that there were no Italians before the state of Italy was established?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

They were not "Italians" though, they were part of the Venetian republic, which now is part of Italy.

This is like saying Pocahontas was from the US just because she was born where is now the state of Virginia.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

They were. The place was called Italia before Romans set foot on British soil.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

More like saying Pocahontas was a Native American. Which in most settings would be an appropriate description.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Funfact: when Garibaldi's troops reached Sicily, chanting "Viva Garibaldi, viva l'Italia!", many locals assumed Garibaldi's wife is named Talia.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Wait, do you think that there were Italians before the state of Italy was established?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's been a lot of years since high school English, but Juliet Capulet was of the Italian family Capulet in the 1590s.

There is some detail in the references of the Capulet family to real world factions of the time. But both those arguing for and against this casting don't care about any of that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

yeah... people actually don't care about the canon when they can use social issues and division as marketing