Colorblind Shakespeare: New Perspectives on Race and Performance

281 Pages·2006·4.882 MB·English

by  Ayanna Thompson

Colorblind
Shakespeare
The Droeshout engraving of Denzel Washington.
Colorblind
Shakespeare
New Perspectives on Race and Performance
EDITED BY
Ayanna Thompson
Routledge Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group
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New York, NY 10017 Milton Park, Abingdon
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© 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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International Standard Book Number-10: 0-415-97802-5 (Softcover) 0-415-97801-7 (Hardcover)
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-415-97802-6 (Softcover) 978-0-415-97801-9 (Hardcover)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Colorblind Shakespeare : new perspectives on race and performance / edited by
Ayanna Thompson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-97801-7 -- ISBN 0-415-97802-5 (pbk.)
1. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Dramatic production. 2. Shakespeare,
William, 1564-1616--Stage history. 3. Theater--Casting. 4. Race in literature. I.
Thompson, Ayanna, 1972-
PR3091.C63 2006
792.9’5--dc22 2006005526
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the Routledge Web site at
http://www.routledge-ny.com
This book is dedicated to my mother,
Nina Parish,
who first taught me the value of colorblindness.
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Contents
Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Foreword xiii
ANIA LOOMBA
1 Practicing a Theory/Theorizing a Practice: An Introduction to
Shakespearean Colorblind Casting 1
AYANNA THOMPSON
Part I: The Semiotics of (Not) Viewing Race
2 Ocular Revisions: Re-casting Othello in Text and Performance 27
ANGELA C. PAO
3 Colorblind Casting in Single-Sex Shakespeare 47
SUJATA IYENGAR
4 Faux Show: Falling into History in Kenneth Branagh’s Love’s
Labour’s Lost 69
COURTNEY LEHMANN
5 When Race Matters: Reading Race in Richard III and Macbeth 89
LISA M. ANDERSON
6 Ira Aldridge, Shakespeare, and Color-Conscious
Performances in Nineteenth-Century Europe 103
KRYSTYNA KUJAWINSKA COURTNEY
Part II: Practicing Colorblindness: The Players Speak
7 My Own Private Shakespeare; or, Am I Deluding Myself? 125
ANTONIO OCAMPO-GUZMAN
8 In The Blood: William Shakespeare, August Wilson, and a
Black Director 137
AYANNA THOMPSON INTERVIEWS TIMOTHY DOUGLAS
vii
viii • Colorblind Shakespeare
Part III: Future Possibilities/Future Directions
9 Civic ShakesPR: Middlebrow Multiculturalism, White
Television, and the Color Bind 157
RICHARD BURT
10 Gestures of Performance: Rethinking Race in Contemporary
Shakespeare 187
MARGO HENDRICKS
11 The Cleopatra Complex: White Actresses on the Interracial
“Classic” Stage 205
CELIA R. DAILEADER
12 The Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Rose Rage: Whiteness,
Terror, and the Fleshwork of Theatre in a Post-Colorblind Age 221
FRANCESCA T. ROYSTER
Afterword: The Blind Side in Colorblind Casting 241
PETER ERICKSON
Notes on Contributors 251
Index 255
Illustrations
1.1: Ira Aldridge as King Lear
1.2: 1965 New York Shakespeare Festival production of Henry V
1.3: 1973 New York Shakespeare Festival production of King Lear
2.1: 1990-1991 Shakespeare Theatre Company production of Othello
3.1: Mark Rylance and Danny Sapani in the 1999 Globe Theatre pro-
duction of Antony and Cleopatra
3.2: Mark Rylance as Cleopatra in the 1999 Globe Theatre production
of Antony and Cleopatra
3.3: Adrian Lester as Rosalind in the 1991 Cheek by Jowl production of
As You Like It
3.4: Josette Simon as Dayna in Blake’s 7 (1981)
3.5: Hero and Margaret in the 2004 Globe Theatre production of Much
Ado about Nothing
9.1: Laura Bush’s colorblind Shakespeare
9.2: Baz Luhrmann’s shaded Shakespeare (1996)
9.3: James Gavin Bedford’s shaded Shakespeare (2002)
9.4: Scamming Shakespeare: The Lone Ranger (1957)
9.5: Black Jealousy/White Moor: Have Gun — Will Travel (1958)
9.6: Black Bartlet: The West Wing (2002)
10.1: Aaron’s Gesture: Titus (2000)
10.2: Tybalt’s Gesture: Romeo + Juliet (1996)
10.3: “I know hip-hop”: Romeo Must Die (2000)
10.4: Blending Differences: Romeo Must Die (2000)
11.1: Reading Cleopatra: Chantal Jean-Pierre
11.2: “Cleopatra Was”: Chantal Jean-Pierre
ix