CULTURE
Why Can't a Black Woman Play Juliet Without Racist Slander?
An essay about the outrage surrounding Black casting
The theatre is supposed to be an artistic realm where creativity and self-expression are prioritized above all else. Yet, as the world prepares to see another production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, a shadow is lurking backstage — the pervaisive presence of racist slander. The announcement that Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, a Black actress, was cast to play the lead role as Juliet, has been met with a "barrage of deplorable racial abuse." Instead of considering why she's been cast, perhaps her talent or experience, they're only concerned with one aspect: her identity as a Black woman.
Of course, the backlash Francesca is facing is further evidence of the broader problem of racism in theatre culture. Initially, in America, popular minstrel shows showed dehumanizing representations of Black people in theatre, reducing them to nothing more than caricatures. With blackened faces and red-painted lips, White actors portrayed characters like "Jim Crow," who were characterized as "lazy, ignorant, superstitious, hypersexual, and prone to thievery and cowardice," according to the Smithsonian Museum. The widespread portrayal of Black people as having poor qualities in theatre contributed to the myth…
