Shakespeare, Blackface and Race: Different Perspectives

✍ Scribed by Coen Heijes

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 102
• Series: Elements in Shakespeare Performance
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This Element addresses the topical debate on blackface, race and Othello. With Shakespeare performance studies being rather Anglo-centric, the author explores how this debate has taken a radically different course in the Netherlands, a country historically perceived as tolerant and culturally close to the UK. Through several case studies, including the Van Hove Othello of 2003/2012 and the latest, controversial 2018/2020 Othello, the first main house production with a black actor as Othello, the author analyses the interaction between blackface and (institutional) racism in Dutch society and theatre and how Othello has become an active player in this debate.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Title page
Copyright page
Shakespeare, Blackface and Race: Different Perspectives
Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 The Demise of Blackface in Othello
1.2 Non-anglophone Othello
2 Context: Dutch Tolerance, Blackface and Racism
2.1 A History of Tolerance and Immigration
2.2 Recent Migration Patterns
2.3 Racism and Blackface
2.4 Black Pete
3 Othello after World War II: White Actors and Blackface
3.1 Post-war Othello: Blackface and White Actors
3.2 Ivo van Hove, Bouazza and the Outsider
3.3 The 2015 Open-Air Othello: Another Outsider
4 Movement from the Fringe: Ignorance, Indifference and Indignation
4.1 The First Deviation: Ignorance and Indifference
4.2 OJ Othello: Indignation and Institutional Racism
4.3 Black Comedy: Ignoring Race
4.4 Othello in the Forest: The Green-Eyed Monster
5 Othello Is Black and That Matters
5.1 Casting Decisions and Race
5.2 Black and White in the Production
5.3 Physical Abuse, Racism and Perception
5.4 Ambivalent Reception and Aftermath
5.5 Epilogue: 2020 and Onwards
References
Elements in the Series