Theater balcony (stock)
Theater balcony (stock)iStock

A British theatre company has cancelled a production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that set the story during the Holocaust and replaced the characters with a Jewish Juliet and a Nazi Romeo.

London’s Icarus Theatre also severed ties with its casting direction after the controversial play led to a torrent of outrage.

Icarus’s artistic director Max Lewendel, whose father was hidden during the Holocaust and whose grandmother was murdered by the Nazis, told the UK Jewish News that the theater company “apologized and are deeply sorry for the offence and pain we caused to the Jewish community.”

Icarus “recognizes that we’ve made mistakes that have resulted in the Jewish community and Jewish artists feeling excluded and being hurt,” Lewendel said.

The play was to feature Juliet as a Jewish member of the Capulet family falling in love with Romeo, who is a member of the Nazi Youth from the Montague family. It was slammed by critics for being insensitive and inherently problematic.

The theater company was also heavily criticized for issuing a casting call on social media that excluded Jewish actors from auctioning for parts in the play.

“Our intention was to cast Jewish actors and actresses. We were shocked to discover our casting director (who we are no longer working with) had removed this key information from our casting breakdown. However, we failed to notice this error before copying it to our website and posting on socials,” Lewendel said.

“We accept that we got this wrong and made Jewish artists feel excluded. We wish to acknowledge the importance of the Jewish community response. Again, we are sorry for the pain we have caused," he added.