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RSC casts its first black Iago for next year's Stratford-staged Othello RSC casts its first black Iago for next year's Stratford-staged Othello
(about 20 hours later)
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has cast its first ever black Iago, leading the company's artistic director Gregory Doran to acknowledge it could make Othello a very different play when it's staged next year in Stratford-upon-Avon.The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has cast its first ever black Iago, leading the company's artistic director Gregory Doran to acknowledge it could make Othello a very different play when it's staged next year in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Doran announced a new production with Hugh Quarshie taking the lead role and Lucian Msamati (the mercenary Salladhor Saan in three Game of Thrones series) playing the scheming Iago.Doran announced a new production with Hugh Quarshie taking the lead role and Lucian Msamati (the mercenary Salladhor Saan in three Game of Thrones series) playing the scheming Iago.
Iago is one of Shakespeare's greatest roles, played with relish in recent years by Rory Kinnear at the National Theatre and Ewan McGregor at the Donmar Warehouse. He is usually interpreted as being a deeply maligned racist, but what if both the main characters are black? "Really watch this space," said Doran. "I know when I was watching it [in workshop] with a really good white Iago opposite Hugh I was thinking right, yes, I've seen this before terrific. But with Lucian, every line became freshly minted and it challenged the whole play in a way I found completely revelatory. It may be a completely crazy idea but I think it's worth pursuing because in the end, as you watch it, you just watch two really, really good actors doing it and that is the major issue." Iago is one of Shakespeare's greatest roles, played with relish in recent years by Rory Kinnear at the National Theatre and Ewan McGregor at the Donmar Warehouse. He is usually interpreted as being a deeply malignant racist, but what if both the main characters are black? "Really watch this space," said Doran. "I know when I was watching it [in workshop] with a really good white Iago opposite Hugh I was thinking right, yes, I've seen this before terrific. But with Lucian, every line became freshly minted and it challenged the whole play in a way I found completely revelatory. It may be a completely crazy idea but I think it's worth pursuing because in the end, as you watch it, you just watch two really, really good actors doing it and that is the major issue."
Doran said he had been trying to get Quarshie to play Othello for 10 years – "Holby City is not an excuse!"Doran said he had been trying to get Quarshie to play Othello for 10 years – "Holby City is not an excuse!"
It will be directed by Iqbal Khan and will be part of a 'Venice' season at the RSC in 2015 that also includes Polly Findlay directing The Merchant of Venice and Trevor Nunn directing Henry Goodman in Ben Jonson's Volpone. Also part of that series is the obscure Love's Sacrifice by John Ford, much better known for 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. The play has not been performed for nearly 400 years and audiences will find out if there were good reasons for that in April next year.It will be directed by Iqbal Khan and will be part of a 'Venice' season at the RSC in 2015 that also includes Polly Findlay directing The Merchant of Venice and Trevor Nunn directing Henry Goodman in Ben Jonson's Volpone. Also part of that series is the obscure Love's Sacrifice by John Ford, much better known for 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. The play has not been performed for nearly 400 years and audiences will find out if there were good reasons for that in April next year.
Its appearance on the RSC schedule came after a kind of Jacobethan X Factor project last year, with Doran inviting four academics to pitch little-known Jacobean and Elizabethan plays they thought should be on the stage of the Swan theatre.Its appearance on the RSC schedule came after a kind of Jacobethan X Factor project last year, with Doran inviting four academics to pitch little-known Jacobean and Elizabethan plays they thought should be on the stage of the Swan theatre.
Each suggested four plays and they were workshopped by RSC actors and directors before the final choice was made. Ford was the winner followed by The Insatiate Countess, probably by John Marston with – apparently firmly at the bottom – Jonson's The Magnetic Lady.Each suggested four plays and they were workshopped by RSC actors and directors before the final choice was made. Ford was the winner followed by The Insatiate Countess, probably by John Marston with – apparently firmly at the bottom – Jonson's The Magnetic Lady.
For the first time in RSC history the summer season will kick off with a play not by Shakespeare. Instead the RSC will mark the centenary of Arthur Miller's birth with Doran directing his partner Antony Sher in Death of a Salesman.For the first time in RSC history the summer season will kick off with a play not by Shakespeare. Instead the RSC will mark the centenary of Arthur Miller's birth with Doran directing his partner Antony Sher in Death of a Salesman.
That may of course be the lull before the storm with something of a Shakespeare jamboree coming in 2016, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.That may of course be the lull before the storm with something of a Shakespeare jamboree coming in 2016, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.
• This article was amended on 4 September 2014. An earlier version used the word "maligned" where "malignant" was meant.