Is an all-white cast of Aladdin ’racist’?

An Aladdin pantomime in Liverpool is at the centre of a race row due to the production appearing to feature an all-white cast and use of offensive terminology. The production has a song which includes the lyric ’come on down to our oriental town’ and the cast members are white. The production stars stage actor Scott Sutcliffe as Aladdin, Coronation Street’s Connor McIntyre as Abanazar, The Voice contestant Kelsey Beth Crossley as Princess Jasmine and actor Nigel Peever as The Emperor. Actor Irvine Iqbal, who appeared in the West End production of Aladdin as the Sultan, has called the pantomime at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena ’shameful’ and demanded an ’industry wide conversation’ about casting. ’ALL white cast in a production of Aladdin where the lyrics are ’Come on down to our oriental town’ in the diverse city of Liverpool,’ he wrote on Twitter. ’This is diverse Britain! #Shameful.’ Iqbal said he would have ref