British Black and Asian Shakespeareans : Integrating Shakespeare, 1966-2018
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Bibliographic Information
British Black and Asian Shakespeareans : Integrating Shakespeare, 1966-2018
（The Arden Shakespeare, . Drama & performance studies）
The Arden Shakespeare, 2022
- : hbk
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Note
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Shakespeare is at the heart of the British theatrical tradition, but the contribution of Ira Aldridge and the Shakespearean performers of African, African-Caribbean, south Asian and east Asian heritage who came after him is not widely known. Telling the story for the first time of how Shakespearean theatre in Britain was integrated from the 1960s to the 21st century, this is a timely and important account of that contribution. Drawing extensively on empirical evidence from the British Black and Asian Shakespeare Performance Database and featuring interviews with nearly forty performers and directors, the book chronicles important productions that led to ground-breaking castings of Black and Asian actors in substantial Shakespearean roles including:
* Zakes Mokae (Cry Freedom) as one of three black witches in William Gaskill's 1966 production of Macbeth at the Royal Court Theatre.
* Norman Beaton as Angelo in Michael Rudman's 1981 production of Measure for Measure at the National Theatre - the first majority Black Shakespearean cast at the theatre.
* Josette Simon as Isabella in Measure for Measure at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987.
* Adrian Lester in the title role of Nicholas Hytner's 2003 production of Henry V.
* Iqbal Khan on his 2012 production of Much Ado About Nothing - the first production with an all south Asian cast at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
* Alfred Enoch and Rakie Ayola as Edgar and Goneril in Talawa Theatre Company's 2016 production of King Lear
* Paapa Essiedu as Hamlet in Simon Godwin's 2016 production for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
With first-hand accounts from key performers including Joseph Marcell, Adrian Lester, Josette Simon, Lolita Chakrabarti, Noma Dumezweni, Rakie Ayola, David Yip, Ray Fearon, Paterson Joseph, Alfred Enoch, Rudolph Walker and many more, this book is an invaluable history of Black and Asian Shakespeareans that highlights the gains these actors have made and the challenges still faced in pursuing a career in classical theatre.
Table of Contents
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
by "Nielsen BookData"
