Performing Race on the Original-Practices Stage: A Call to Action

Abstract

This article reflects upon the presence of (and dilemmas caused by) race in the casting practices of major original practice Shakespeare companies: namely, Shakespeare's Globe in London, the Blackfriars Playhouse at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA, and Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA. Given the immense draw of these companies to audiences old and new, they inhabit, the essay suggests, a privileged position in being able to create true dialogues about race both inside and outside of the playhouses. An examination of the casting choices made in the ASC's 2007 season, however, leads the article to illustrate the precarious nature of 'colorblind casting,' which in the season in question unintentionally created patterns of meaning even in plays (such as The Winter's Tale ) where no statement about race was being made by the director or performers. In drawing attention to the ways in which race may be unintentionally brought to the forefront of a production as a result of the racial make-up of its cast, the study calls upon original-practices companies to recognize the casual (and sometimes overt) racism of Shakespeare's texts and to wish to do something about it. Ultimately, it seeks to enforce the idea that criticism, honest conversations, and active work with race in performance by these companies can help to overcome this casual and pervasive racism: both of Shakespeare's plays and of the world in which we live today.