British Black and Asian Shakespeareans: Integrating Shakespeare, 1966-2018

ISBN-13: 9781350114883 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022 / 256 str.

Jami Rogers

Spis treści

Note on interviews Abbreviations List of illustrations List of tables Acknowledgements Introduction: Forgotten Shakespeareans, 1825–1965 Shakespearean pioneers, 1866–1947 Shakespearean pioneers, 1950–1965 Chapter One: “Difficult to justify this casting without sounding racist”: breakthroughs and stereotypes, 1966–1972 Royal Court – Macbeth – 1966 Mermaid Theatre – The Tempest – 1970 The Black Macbeth – Roundhouse Theatre, London – 1972 “Difficult to justify this casting without sounding racist” Chapter Two: “Why weren’t we auditioned?”: the “black canon” and the battle for Othello “Why weren’t we auditioned?” Reclaiming Othello Chapter Three: From “suitable roles” to leads, 1980–1987 “Black roles” at the RSC Macbeth – Young Vic, 1984 Leading roles, 1984 Rosaline – RSC, 1984 “Othello was an Arab” – RSC, 1985 Emergence of a new “black canon” RSC 1986 “They’re nurturing you” Antony – Contact Theatre, 1987 Isabella – RSC, 1987 Julius Caesar – Bristol Old Vic, 1987 Chapter Four: Owning Shakespeare – Temba, Talawa and Tara Arts, 1988–1994 Romeo and Juliet – Temba, 1988 Antony and Cleopatra – Talawa, 1991 Troilus and Cressida – Tara Arts, 1993 King Lear – Talawa, 1994 Chapter Five: Cracking the glass ceiling, 1988–1996 “You can’t have a West Indian actor playing a Welsh poet …” Troilus … But West Indian opera singers can speak the verse? Young lovers Rosalind. Portia. The Shakespearean glass ceiling, 1988–1996. “Are we saying we’re white people?”. “That wouldn’t have happened here”. Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 1993–1996. Chapter Six: “Monarchs to Behold”: 1997–2003. “I belong here”. Othello, National Theatre, 1997. Women of colour: pushing against the glass ceiling, 1998-1999. RSC, 1999. Troilus and Cressida, National Theatre, 1999 Identity and colour-blind casting Adrian Lester, Hamlet, 2000 David Oyelowo, Henry VI, 2000 Mu-Lan Romeo and Juliet, 2001 Adrian Lester, Henry V, 2003 The peak of progress? Chapter Seven: Progress Postponed, 2004–2011. “There’s a few more parts we could play, you know”. Tragic heroes and the Shakespearean glass ceiling, 2004–2011. Cross-cultural casting. “I think I need you to do an accent”. Maids and prostitutes, stereotyping Lucetta and Bianca. A new dawn. Chapter Eight: Shakespeare from Multiculturalism to Brexit, 2012-2018. Julius Caesar and Much Ado About Nothing, RSC, 2012. Othello. Joseph Marcell – King Lear, Shakespeare’s Globe, 2013. Shakespeare’s histories, 2013–2015. Paapa Essiedu – Hamlet, RSC, 2016. “It was a lack of faith”. Black Theatre Live’s Hamlet and Talawa’s King Lear, 2016. Alfred Enoch – Edgar, King Lear, Talawa, 2016. Women of colour in Shakespeare, 2016–2018. Josette Simon – Cleopatra, RSC, 2017 “They never asked me” Sheila Atim – Emilia, Othello, Shakespeare’s Globe, 2018 Troilus and Cressida – RSC, 2018. Coda – 2019…and beyond? References Index