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A community theatre has cancelled its production of Shakespeare’s “Othello” after receiving threats from people angered by a decision to cast a white woman in the lead role instead of the traditional person of colour.

Volunteer-run Walterdale Theatre Associates in Edmonton issued a statement late Monday that says it regrets to announce the cancellation, but it can’t continue because the safety of cast members has been threatened.

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Adam Kuss, president of Walterdale’s board of directors, says the matter has been referred to police.

The production of the 400-year-old play about the powerful Moorish general of the Venetian army had been scheduled to open Feb. 8.

Artistic director Anne Marie Szucs says in the same statement that Walterdale’s vision of the play was a post-apocalyptic world in which traditional power structures were inverted and the focus was on the battle between the sexes.

Szucs has apologized to those offended by the decision to cast a woman in the lead.

“Othello” — a story about love, revenge and deceit — was to have been the third show of Walterdale’s 2016-2017 season. The theatre says the threats surrounding the production were uttered in person and online.

Walterdale’s statement said it casts plays based on an open audition which welcomes everyone. Roles are filled by those who attend the auditions for each play.