Ms Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, a British actor and theatre designer of Ghanaian descent, has been awarded the role to star alongside popular Spiderman actor Tom Holland in a sold-out Romeo and Juliet play upcoming in the UK.
UK commercial theatre company West End Production’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic will run at the Duke of York Theatre in London from May 23 to August 03, this year, and is already a top trend.
Francesca, 26, is most known for her acting role in Bad Education, a successful British TV series, and she owns a couple rights to other works as a composer and writer.
She graduated from Oxford with a BA in Music and has won prestigious recognition as a promising audio designer.
The actress was chosen by Tom Holland after a search, and the coveted role marks a major breakthrough in her career.
The Spiderman actor, in a statement, said he was ‘beyond excitement to announce our cast for Romeo and Juliet.
‘I can’t wait to get started and I know we’ll create something really special togethe
r.’
Francesca also wrote, ‘I’m excited to bring a fresh energy to this story alongside Tom, and to welcome new audiences to this theatre.’
Although not much is known about her personal life, she said her father is from Ghana and she still has family there.
Her mother is said to be Nigerian, and the actress is also known to support humanitarian activities that focuses on the countries of her ancestry.
She featured prominently in School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls, a play set in Ghana’s top list boarding school Aburi Girls and which became a UK hit.
Despite her successes, landing the leading role in the world’s most popular love story brought a stream of hate and based criticisms from some fans of the ancient tale who feel the racial shift in casting the female lead was inconsistent with details of the original plot.
The duo is currently rehearsing for the week-long staging, and Francesca continues to receive racial abuse online, forcing director Jamie Loyd to issue a statement of caution.
‘Followin
g the announcement of our ‘Romeo and Juliet’ cast, there has been a barrage of deplorable racial abuse online directed towards a member of our company. This must stop,’ he said.
Hollywood’s attempt to place Africans in white-reserved roles recently, met similar fate with the latest being Disney’s 2023 remake of the ‘Little Mermaid’ which received heavy backlash for casting an African as the beloved fairy-tale mermaid.
The controversy sure affected expected box office returns, but the movie became a success, and should ease the way for young African talents in the industry like Ms. Amewudah-Rivers.
Freema Agyeman, British actress also of Ghanaian descent and who featured prominently in iconic Tv series Dr Who, would play the Shakespearean nurse in the upcoming theatre event.
Source: Ghana News Agency