Matthew Hemley, The Stage, May 4, 2018

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Gemma Hamilton, who runs Lowy Hamilton Artists, made the remarks in a forum on Facebook, in which she said she was “bored of breakdowns asking for BAME actors” because it “adds that va-va-voom to the cast list”.

“And now I see a breakdown for BAME-only that are actor/musos. It’s putting talented ‘white’ performers out of work. I think it stinks,” she wrote.

Her remarks were met with heavy criticism from the theatre community, {snip}.

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Actor Alexia Khadime said she was “saddened and offended that this would come from an agent who I can only assume has many different races on their books”, while writer Jonathan Harvey added he was “sick of seeing all-white casts on screen or stage”.

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Hamilton responded to the criticisms claiming she was “devastated” and that her comments had been taken out of context.

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She added: “I absolutely do apologise for the wording used and [it was] entirely not how I meant it to sound but I was posting to a private group who know my character. I agree we have a long way to go and actors should always be cast on their talent as opposed to their appearance.”