Distiller, Natasha. “Authentic Protest, Authentic Shakespeare, Authentic Africans: Performing Othello in South Africa.” Comparative Drama, vol. 46, no. 3, 2012, pp. 339-354. Project Muse, doi: https://doi.org/10.1353/cdr.2012.0023.
In this essay, Natasha Distiller considers whether Othello is a racist play, considering it was written by a white man and intended for a white actor in blackface to play the part of the black character. She develops this consideration through a look at Janet Suzman’s 1987 production of Othello in apartheid South Africa, which served as a “protest play” for South African policies surrounding race. Ultimately, Distiller argues that Shakespeare’s work isn’t racist, but rather a powerful tool that can provide meaning to a given cultural context. She says that Othello will mean different things to different people depending on the cultural context of the play’s presentation, including the time and place it is staged in. She begins by discussing the comments of Shakespeare critic James Earl Jones, who said that Othello shouldn’t be looked at from a perspective of race, but should instead be explored as a “classic” piece of literature with universal themes that do not include race. However, Distiller argues that black actors cannot ignore their black identity while playing the part of Othello, making it impossible to not make Othello about race, for how can one expect a black actor to play this role as a black man in a white world without being aware of his own blackness? Distiller then discusses how Suzman, in her 1987 production of Othello as a protest play in apartheid South Africa, has deliberately placed Othello into a singular time and place. Instead of centering on the universal themes of the “classics,” she encourages the audience to consider both race and gender issues present in the play, creating a direct link between what is happening in the play and what is happening in South Africa.
Jenny Jadin
