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The producers of a West End show are “carefully considering” plans to hold evenings aimed at black-only audiences following criticism from Downing Street.

Slave Play, which features Game Of Thrones star Kit Harington among the cast, will run from 29 June to 21 September at the Noel Coward Theatre in London.

It is set to include two performances aimed at an “all-black-identifying audience” that is “free from the white gaze”.

Similar “Black Out” nights were held during the show’s run on Broadway in New York in 2019, with organisers describing them as “private, invitation-only events”.

Kit Harington at the Oliviers
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Game Of Thrones star Kit Harington is among the ensemble cast. Pic: PA

The West End move was announced earlier this week, with the “Black Out” events confirmed to be taking place on 17 July and 17 September.

But when asked about the plans on Thursday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak‘s official spokesperson said: “Restricting audiences on the basis of race would be wrong and divisive”.

However, organisers said they would not “prevent or preclude anyone” from attending and said “nobody” had been turned away in the past.

They told Sky News in a statement: “As the producers of Slave Play in the West End, our intent is to celebrate the play with the widest possible audience. We want to increase accessibility to theatre for everyone.

“The Broadway production conceived of Black Out nights and we are carefully considering how to incorporate this endeavour as part of two performances in our 13-week run. We will release further details soon.

“To be absolutely clear, no one will be prevented or precluded from attending any performance of Slave Play.”

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On Friday morning the website for the play showed that, on the “Black Out” dates, tickets were available to buy for a matinee performance on 17 July, but not an evening performance.

No ticketed show appeared to be scheduled for 17 September.

Mr Sunak’s spokesman said on Thursday: “The prime minister is a big supporter of the arts and he believes that the arts should be inclusive and open to everyone, particularly where those arts venues are in receipt of public funding.

“Obviously, these reports are concerning and further information is being sought. But clearly, restricting audiences on the basis of race would be wrong and divisive.”

‘No colour bar’

Slave Play is written by US actor and playwright Jeremy O Harris, with Banana star Fisayo Akinade and Denzel Washington‘s daughter Olivia Washington also among the cast.

After being accused by some social media users of being “racist against white people”, Emily In Paris star Harris wrote on X: “I don’t have to imagine the roles were reversed in my grandparents’ lifetimes AND WORSE.

“I’m not even saying BLACKS ONLY I’m saying I’m inviting black ppl first! They can bring their white friends or lovers if they want. There’s no colour bar. But one existed in the UK recently!”

Slave Play was nominated for 12 Tony Awards for its Broadway run and tells a story of “race, identity and sexuality” at a plantation in the southern US during the early 21st century.

During a 2019 “Black Out” staging of the play in New York’s Golden Theatre, all 804 seats were used by black-identifying theatregoers, according to organisers.

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Dayle Haddon: Former Sports Illustrated model dies of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning

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Dayle Haddon: Former Sports Illustrated model dies of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning

Dayle Haddon – the actor, activist and former Sports Illustrated model – has died from what authorities believe was carbon monoxide poisoning.

Authorities found the 76-year-old dead in a second-floor bedroom on Friday morning after emergency dispatchers were notified about a person unconscious at the house in Solebury Township, Pennsylvania.

A 76-year-old man, later identified as Walter J Blucas, of Erie, is in a critical condition.

Responders detected a high level of carbon monoxide in the property.

Investigators believe the leak was caused by “a faulty flue and exhaust pipe on a gas heating system”.

As a model, Haddon appeared on the covers of Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Esquire in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the 1973 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

She also appeared in about two dozen films from the 1970s to 1990s, including 1994’s Bullets Over Broadway, starring John Cusack.

Haddon (Left) with Angela Merkel and Christine Lagarde (Right) during a meeting of the Gender Equality Advisory Council. Pic: Michael Kappeler/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
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Haddon (left) with Angela Merkel and Christine Lagarde (right) during a meeting of the Gender Equality Advisory Council. Pic: AP

Haddon left modelling after giving birth to her daughter, Ryan, in the mid-1970s, but then had to re-enter the workforce after her husband’s 1991 death.

This time, she found the modelling industry far less friendly: “They said to me, ‘At 38, you’re not viable’,” Haddon told The New York Times in 2003.

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Working for an advertising agency, she began reaching out to cosmetic companies, telling them there was a growing market to sell beauty products to aging baby boomers.

She eventually landed a contract with Clairol, followed by Estee Lauder and then L’Oreal, for which she promoted the company’s anti-aging products for more than a decade.

She also hosted beauty segments for CBS’s The Early Show.

In 2008, Haddon founded WomenOne, an organisation aimed at advancing educational opportunities for girls and women in marginalised communities, including in Rwanda, Haiti and Jordan.

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Haddon’s daughter, Ryan, said in a social media post that her mother was “everyone’s greatest champion. An inspiration to many”.

“A pure heart. A rich inner life. Touching so many lives. A life well lived. Rest in Light, Mom,” she said.

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Olivia Hussey, star of 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, dies at 73

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Olivia Hussey, star of 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, dies at 73

Actress Olivia Hussey, best known for playing Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 production of Romeo and Juliet, has died aged 73.

She died peacefully at her home in California, surrounded by her loved ones on Friday, according to a post shared on her official Instagram account.

The message, posted with a sunset photo of Hussey in her youth, paid tribute to “a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her”.

It went on: “Olivia lived a life full of passion, love, and dedication to the arts, spirituality, and kindness towards animals”.

Calling her a “truly special soul”, her family said while her “immense loss” was grieved, they would also “celebrate Olivia’s enduring impact on our lives and the industry”.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1951 to an Argentinian father and English mother, Hussey returned to London aged seven with her mother and studied at the Italia Conti Academy drama school.

Spotted by Italian director Zeffirelli in a stage show of The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie opposite Vanessa Redgrave, Hussey’s performance as Juliet aged just 15 made her a star and won her a Golden Globe.

Sixteen-year-old actor Leonard Whiting played her Romeo, with the pair going on to sue Paramount Pictures in 2022 for sexual abuse due to the Oscar-nominated movie’s nude scene.

(L-R) Franco Zeffirelli, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting pictured in 1968. Pic: AP/Eustache Cardenas
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(L-R) Franco Zeffirelli, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting in 1968. Pic: AP/Eustache Cardenas

The case was dismissed by a judge the following year.

Hussey would work with Zeffirelli again, playing the Virgin Mary in the 1977 TV miniseries Jesus Of Nazareth.

Appearances in horrors including Black Christmas and Psycho prequel Psycho IV: The Beginning established Hussey as a scream queen over the years.

Other notable appearances included Hercule Poirot movie Death On The Nile and Mother Teresa biography Madre Teresa.

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Hussey was reunited with Whiting in the 2015 British film Social Suicide, which was loosely based on Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet.

Her daughter, actress India Eisley, played her on-screen daughter in the movie.

It was Hussey’s final screen role, according to IMDB.

Hussey leaves behind three children, Alex, Max, and India, her husband of 35 years David Glen Eisley, and grandson, Greyson.

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Andrew Garfield on baking cookies and keeping perfume to remember his mum

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Andrew Garfield on baking cookies and keeping perfume to remember his mum

Andrew Garfield says he bakes cookies every year in memory of his late mother.

The double Oscar nominee‘s mother Lynn Garfield, from Essex, died in 2019 from pancreatic cancer.

In a conversation about his new film We Live In Time, he told Sky News about the special ways he likes to remember her.

“My mum had the most incredible chocolate chip cookie recipe that I will do every year on the anniversary of her birth and on the anniversary of her death.

Pic: StudioCanal
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Pic: StudioCanal

“So, I will bake them, and we will all eat them, but I’ll leave a few out for her somewhere, you know, like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Santa Claus at Christmas or something.”

The English-American actor says he looks to keep the connection to his mother alive and notes that he has some of her keepsakes in his own home.

“I have her perfume in my house that my mum used to wear when I was a kid. I have it, like, in a very special place. I’ll just like [smell it], when I need it.

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“It’s like in the missing and the longing, you actually get closer to the person. It’s a weird thing. As we reach out in grief, we actually feel much closer to the person so it’s this weird conundrum”.

Pic: StudioCanal
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Pic: StudioCanal

‘Leaving a legacy behind’

Garfield stars alongside Florence Pugh in the romance film We Live In Time, which follows an up-and-coming chef and a Weetabix salesman through a decade of their love story.

Pugh says she loves playing “really strong-willed women” and says playing a woman dealing with ovarian cancer allowed her to look at the idea of creating a legacy.

“She’s constantly juggling whether she does something for herself, does something for her daughter, does something for her family and ultimately, she’s allowed to do all of those things.

“I do believe that she is trying to leave that kind of legacy behind so that her daughter is proud of her.

“Just because you are a parent and you’re a mum does not mean that your wills and wants also completely vanish and disappear and you can’t have or want them too”.

Pic: StudioCanal
Image:
Pic: StudioCanal

‘A level of detail and care’

We Live In Time is directed by Brooklyn filmmaker John Crowley.

Having previously worked with Garfield on Boy A, the Irish director says seeing Garfield and Pugh on screen together is magic.

“All that life experience is present in his performance,” he says.

“I wouldn’t say he’s vastly different. I think the level of detail and care that he puts in the work is every bit as much as it was back then, there’s just more there now”.

We Live In Time is in cinemas on Wednesday 1 January.

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