I Hate the Moor.
Ah yes, the famous “race play,” which regales an epic story of lies, love, jealousy, and deceit. The play revolves around two primary characters, Othello, an African general in the Venetian War who is tricked by Iago into suspecting adultery by his wife, Desdemona. While this play alludes racial tensions assuming the character Othello is an outsider due to his “moorish” complexion, modern productions have recently challenged this interpretation exploring other motives to the character’s actions beyond race. In fact, the text is rare explicitly discriminatory aside from the occasional comparison of blackness to hell. This ambiguity raises a lot of controversy of whether the show is racially charged or not. In 2018, The Globe Theater in London produced Othello with not only a black Emilia but a black Cassio and Bianca as well. Seeing this show really opened my eyes in to how something as simple as a diverse cast, added a new complexity to the show that was devoid of racialized motives within the characters. While the race play is one of Shakespeare’s most fascinating play to explore equity, the history of this production in terms of equity is nothing short of shocking. In the Elizabethan era, it is believed that in order to portray the actor as a black man, they would cover his entire body with cloth that had been dyed black (1) - think of this as the very first mode of black face. The first black Othello was played by Ira Aldrige in 1825 at the London Stage (2). To put this in perspective, it took 222 years before a black man played the black character written in presumably 1603. Sad right?
RSC’s 2015 production of Othello takes a fascinating interpretation of the play, casting an impressively diverse cast including a black Iago and an Indian Emilia (3). This is the first time in RSC’s history that a black man has been cast as Iago in the 140 years the theater has been operating. At first realization of a black Iago I became curious as to how this casting choice was going to affect the audiences perception of the play. It really burns the ever loved question: is Iago’s convincing and fatal deceitfulness towards Othello rooted in Racism? In this production, I would argue that this production reroutes the story to focus more on Iago’s other qualms against Othello disregarding race. Iqbal Khan, who brilliantly portrays Iago this is production speaks on this matter in an interview posted by RSC stating, “Does my being black change the play? Yes and no. Yes, because it makes people sit up and notice. No, because I think there has been a lot of mythology around the fact that Othello is ‘the race play’ or ‘the racist play’ I think it is so much more than that. That does not mean to say that there are not those issues and they should be trivialized or glossed over. But I for instance don’t believe that what drives Iago is anything racial at all. There is something much deeper, much more dangerous, much more emotional than that (4).” I think this is an incredibly important take on the character and in my opinion, makes Iago much more interesting. In this production, casting a black man as Iago almost eliminates the implied racism towards Othello. The value in this is that not only does it open the door to the possibility for other black actors to play such an amazing character, but it gives this story a fresh lens that removes the implied racist nuances.
Something else I am pondering in terms of casting Iago as a black man, is it beneficial or harmful to ever cast a black man as a villain? Arguably, both Othello and Iago are incredibly flawed and murderous human beings and is it doing a disservice to the black community by portraying two black men pitted against each other? Or is it beneficial to the black community to cast the two most complex and developed characters as black men because it humanizes them in ways that modern media does not. Does it serve to portray these black men as powerful roles or does it just emphasize the stereotype that black men are violent and dangerous? As a white woman, this is something I don’t inherently know the answer to. Perhaps if any of my readers have some insight, comment below and let me know what you think. Overall, I would highly recommend watching this version of Othello if you are a Shakespeare nut like me. It’s definitely brilliant in it’s concepts and controversial in directorial choices; but that’s the best kind of theater - the kind that makes you think and grapple with difficult subject matter.
https://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited/othello-blackface
Evans, N. M. (2002). Ira aldridge: Shakespeare and minstrelsy. American Transcendental Quarterly, 16(3), 165-187. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.elon.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/222437800?accountid=10730
"Othello." , directed by Robin Lough. , produced by Zoe Donegan, and Royal Shakespeare Company. , Royal Shakespeare Company, 2015. Alexander Street, https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/othello-6?context=channel:live-from-stratford-upon-avon
