One of the UK’s most respected actors is to resign from the Royal Shakespeare Company as a backlash against big oil’s financing of the arts gathers momentum.

Mark Rylance, who has been an associate artist with the RSC for 30 years, said BP’s sponsorship deal allowed the company to “obscure the destructive reality of its activities”, which he said threatened the future of the planet.

“I do not wish to be associated with BP any more than I would with an arms dealer, a tobacco salesman or anyone who wilfully destroys the lives of others alive and unborn. Nor, I believe, would William Shakespeare,” he said.

The move will be a blow to the RSC, which said it was saddened by Rylance’s announcement. It follows a series of high-profile protests by artists and campaigners against BP and other global oil corporations at UK cultural institutions ranging from the National Portrait Gallery to the Royal Opera House and the British Museum.

Jess Worth, of the campaign group Culture Unstained, said: “Opposition to BP sponsorship is now so squarely in the limelight that it’s upstaging the art … There is no justification for promoting one of the world’s most destructive fossil fuel companies in the midst of a climate crisis.”

In February hundreds of people occupied the British Museum in objection to its relationship with BP. This month a judge and several leading artists wrote to the director of the National Portrait Gallery on the eve of its annual awards calling on it to end its links to the company. A subsequent demonstration disrupted the awards ceremony.

There have been other protests at different galleries in recent weeks, and on Thursday hundreds of people from Extinction Rebellion occupied the Natural History Museum to object to its hosting of a Petroleum Group dinner.

Worth said: “As actors, musicians, artists and culture lovers unite in a chorus of disapproval, the RSC, National Portrait Gallery, Royal Opera House and British Museum must act fast to end their sponsorship deals or the damage to their reputations will keep escalating.”

BP, one of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies, sponsors subsidised £5 tickets for young people at the RSC.

Writing in the Guardian as hundreds of thousands of young people took part in the latest school climate strikes on Friday, Rylance said its involvement was no longer acceptable.

The sponsorship “means the RSC will continue pushing BP’s brand on to young people who have – in huge numbers through the ongoing school strikes – told adults they need to step up their response to the climate crisis now,” he wrote. “Surely the RSC wants to be on the side of the world-changing kids, not the world-killing companies?”

Last year the world’s leading scientists said there were only a dozen years to avoid the worst consequences of global heating, which is expected to bring drought, floods, extreme heat, food shortages and poverty for hundreds of millions of people. David Attenborough said this year that the environment emergency threatened the future of human civilisation.

Rylance said he had been delighted to be associated with the RSC as a young actor, but his long-term objection to BP’s involvement had not led to any meaningful change.

“The RSC could turn this situation on its head and give young people much more value than a cheap £5 ticket. They could give them the support of Shakespeare in their stand against our addiction to energy dealers who would willingly destroy us for a quick quid.”

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The RSC’s artistic director, Gregory Doran, and executive director, Catherine Mallyon, said they were saddened by Rylance’s decision. “We recognise the importance of a robust and engaged debate in taking these decisions, especially in the light of the acknowledged environment and climate emergency,” they said. “It’s one of the many ways that help us to establish lifetime enthusiasts for Shakespeare and live theatre and applies to all of our productions whether in Stratford, London or on tour around the UK.”

BP declined to comment on Rylance’s decision, but said it was proud of its sponsorship which provided about 10,000 cheap tickets for young people each year.

“We’ve been supporting the arts in the UK for 50 years and over that time around 50 million people have enjoyed BP-supported activities and programmes,” it said. “On climate our position is very clear. We recognise the world is on an unsustainable path, more needs to be done to fix that and the world needs to move to net zero carbon emissions in the decades to come.

“In addressing the climate challenge facing all of us, it is critical that everyone plays their part: individuals, governments and companies such as BP. The answer will come through coming together, building understanding and collaborating to find real solutions rather than through further polarisation and exacerbating divisions.”

The company said it was committed to being “part of the solution and are working every day to advance the transition to a low-carbon future. We want a fast-paced transition to a lower-carbon energy system, which will require a huge re-engineering of the world’s energy system. With our knowhow, relationships and capabilities, we believe companies like BP need to be part of the solution.”

Rylance said it was time for others in the arts world to examine their positions. “I am resigning to lend strength to the voices within the RSC who want to be progressive, and to encourage my fellow associates to express themselves too. The children know the truth … In the face of addiction, tough love is the only path. It’s time for an artistic intervention.”