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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent

Shaniqua Okwok says London drama school told her to act like ‘slave in chains’

Central Discrimination
Shaniqua Okwok
Shaniqua Okwok says during an acting exercise she was told to embrace her ‘inherited trauma’. Photograph: Dave J Hogan/Getty

The actor Shaniqua Okwok has criticised the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, claiming she was told to embrace her “inherited trauma” and act like a slave in chains during an acting exercise.

Okwok, who appeared in Steve McQueen’s series Small Axe and the award-winning drama It’s a Sin, accused the prestigious drama school of paying lip service to its anti-discrimination pledges by failing to say whether it had disciplined the teacher involved in the incident in 2015.

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