Paapa Essiedu joins criticism of RSC’s partnership with pro-Israel fashion brand

A campaign being led by Artists for Palestine UK and reportedly backed by Caryl Churchill and RSC associate artist David Calder is now calling on the RSC to "publicly clarify" that it will not work with companies that contravene the ethical principles of "equity, diversity, justice and inclusion" listed on its site. 

"When the RSC cut its sponsorship links with BP in 2019, it said it would only enter partnerships that reflected its integrity," said Essiedu, who became the first black actor to play Hamlet at the RSC.   

"I am disappointed that it is not sticking to that principle. Genocide is being committed on the Palestinian people by the IDF. It should be out of the question for the RSC to maintain links with companies that fundraise for and support this."

RSC co-artistic directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey told The Stage that they were in "warm, mature" discussion with a number of artists about the issue, to whom they were "listening". 

The pair revealed they would convene their ethics committee to specifically discuss the issue, and would look to improve due diligence processes and ensure dialogue with any partners was "continual". 

The RSC and Alice + Olivia linked up when the clothing company launched a collection of clothes inspired by RSC costumes, which remains for sale online. Due diligence paperwork for the partnership was completed on February 21, 2025 – but Evans told The Stage that the link-up began "way earlier".

Alice + Olivia co-hosted a fundraiser for Friends of the IDF in 2023, according to a post shared on social media by another co-host for the event, and its founder, Stacey Bendet, has publicly declared her support for Israel in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on the country.

Since the RSC began working with Alice + Olivia, Evans said, numerous artists had flagged ethical discomfort with the partnership. It comes amid increasing international criticism of Israeli bombardment of Palestine and accusations of genocide by a United Nations commission of inquiry.

"The really important learning that we’ve taken from this, and something that we’ve been reflecting on deeply, is that our due diligence process needs to be contemporaneous and live, so that we’re in continual dialogue with our partners and have that dialogue as world events shift and change," Harvey told The Stage. 

She revealed the RSC will be convening its ethics committee in response to the backlash against its partnership with Alice + Olivia – something The Stage understands the company does not do regularly, but only "according to need". 

Evans added: "We’re a charity with governance rules, and we deem this to be a really important topic, so we are going to take this very subject to our committee, who will then debate in the round all of the things that we’re discussing so that we can deepen our due diligence process, and respond accordingly."

The ethics committee will discuss whether to meet campaigners’ demands to rethink the partnership and publicly declare that they will not work with companies that have links to the Israeli state. 

The co-artistic directors also said that Alice + Olivia’s RSC-inspired collection remains on sale, "no further activity" in the partnership was planned.

Alice + Olivia has been contacted for comment.