Jami Rogers

British Black and Asian Shakespeareans (eBook, ePUB)

Integrating Shakespeare, 1966-2018

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

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.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK
• Seitenzahl: 256
• Erscheinungstermin: 24. März 2022
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781350112933
• Artikelnr.: 63418416

Autorenporträt

Jami Rogers trained at LAMDA and has an MA and a PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK. Her career has spanned television and education, including eight years at PBS's Masterpiece Theatre in Boston, MA. She has taught classical acting at ArtsEd and Shakespeare at the University of Warwick, where she is an Honorary Fellow. She researches and writes about racial and gender inequality in Britain's live and recorded arts.

Inhaltsangabe

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