Racism row over all-white Aladdin: Stars slam ‘shameful’ panto that references ‘oriental town’

An Aladin pantomime with an all-white cast and featuring the lyric ‘come on down to our oriental town’ was condemned as racist yesterday.

The production stars stage actor Scott Sutcliffe as Aladdin, Coronation Street‘s Connor McIntyre as Abanazar, The Voice contestant Kelsey Beth Crossley as Princess Jasmine and actor Nigel Peever as The Emperor.

Actor Irvine Iqbal, who appeared in the West End production of Aladdin as the Sultan, has called the pantomime at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena ‘shameful’ and demanded an ‘industry wide conversation’ about casting. ‘ALL white cast in a production of Aladdin where the lyrics are ‘Come on down to our oriental town’ in the diverse city of Liverpool,’ he wrote on Twitter.

‘This is diverse Britain! #Shameful.’ Iqbal said he would have refused to have sung the lyrics and declared that actors should challenge such ‘racial slurs’.

The race and equality committee of actors’ union Equity said it was ‘shocked by a very white-looking cast…’

Aladdin is set in the fictional city of Agrabah, on the banks of the River Jordan. Actor Benjamin Armstrong, who appeared in the West End show Rumi, said he was ‘disgusted’ by the production. 

He wrote: ‘I speak about casting authentic actors for Aladdin pantos a fair bit, but this goes beyond that.’ He described the lyrics as ‘100 per cent utter racism. There is no excuse.’

The race and equality committee of actors’ union Equity said it was ‘shocked by a very white-looking cast…’ and called for an ‘industry wide panto conference’. The UK Pantomime Association has also condemned the production. It said it took ‘seriously the need for innovation and progression in the sector, including the… removal of racist stereotypes’.

Aladdin is set in the fictional city of Agrabah, on the banks of the River Jordan

Shone Productions, which was behind the casting and content of the show, said: ‘Our casting calls are posted on the website Spotlight which is the largest casting resource in the UK’

The production stars stage actor Scott Sutcliffe as Aladdin, Coronation Street’s Connor McIntyre as Abanazar, The Voice contestant Kelsey Beth Crossley as Princess Jasmine and actor Nigel Peever as The Emperor

Shone Productions, which was behind the casting and content of the show, said: ‘Our casting calls are posted on the website Spotlight which is the largest casting resource in the UK.

‘Our adverts are open to all ethnicities. We have a diverse company of performers and backstage crew across all of our pantomimes. Our performers are cast based on their strength and ability for each role. 

‘We are keen to ensure our organisation is representative, and we will take feedback on board.’ 

Liverpool has one of the oldest established Chinese communities in Europe thanks to links between the port city and Shanghai.