In:Othello in European Culture
Edited by Elena Bandín Fuertes, Francesca Rayner and Laura Campillo Arnaiz
[Shakespeare in European Culture 3] 2022
► pp. 133–152
Chapter 7Let it be hid?
UK Othellos, multiracial casting, hostile environments
Published online: 25 May 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/sec.3.07pre
https://doi.org/10.1075/sec.3.07pre
Abstract
For four hundred years, a vast majority of UK productions of Othello trained their audiences to see only one character as black. But the 2010s were the decade in which multiracial productions of Othello went mainstream. This chapter analyses how these productions grappled with (or avoided) Britain’s race problems. It focuses on three major productions at the UK’s largest Shakespeare-producing theatres (the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Shakespeare’s Globe) and argues that a number of cultural frames – not least the fantasy of a post-racial society – determined the semiotic meaning and critical reception of the shows.
Article outline
- Framing Othello
- “The Universal Liberality of a British Audience”
- Directed by Nicholas Hytner (National Theatre, 2013)
- Directed by Iqbal Khan (Royal Shakespeare Company, 2015)
- Directed by Claire van Kampen (Shakespeare’s Globe, 2018)
- Conclusion
Notes References
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