Othello
Debra Ann Byrd on Becoming Othello
Theater-maker and past Folger Fellow Debra Ann Byrd tells us about her solo show.
The evolution of American Moor: The Untitled Othello Project
Shakespeare's Language and Race, with Patricia Akhimie and Carol Mejia LaPerle
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 177 Close reading of Shakespeare is not a new concept. But this kind of close reading is more challenging—and it can help us interpret Shakespeare’s words in new and profound ways. Our guests are two contributors to…
Extra-Illustrating Othello
a guest post by Patricia Akhimie On my last visit to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Fall 2019 (a time that seems all too distant now) to conduct research for a new edition of Othello, I set myself the goal…
Race and Blackness in Elizabethan England, with Ambereen Dadabhoy
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 168 When did the concept of race develop? How far should we look back to find the attitudes that bolster white supremacy? We ask Dr. Ambereen Dadabhoy, an assistant professor of literature at Harvey Mudd College, and…
ENCORES: “‘Othello was My Grandfather’: Shakespeare in the African Diaspora” Lecture by Kim F. Hall (2016)
BECOMING OTHELLO! A gender-flipped journey onstage and in the archive
Excerpt — Keith Hamilton Cobb’s ‘American Moor’: An introduction by Kim Hall
At the heart of Keith Hamilton Cobb’s one-man play American Moor are explorations of blackness, racial dynamics in American theater, “ownership” of Shakespeare, and the subtext of Othello. He has performed the play across the United States, including an off-Broadway…
Shakespeare and opera: Jealousy and tragedy in Verdi's Otello
Leah Crocetto (Desdemona) and Russell Thomas (Otello) in WNO’s Otello. Photo by Scott Suchman. I find it fascinating that Verdi’s last two operas were both inspired by Shakespeare: Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893), yet they are very different in story,…
Desdemona and Emilia: The testament of female friendship in Othello
Iqbal Khan
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 128 “If, with Shakespeare, we can thrill and tease an audience into embracing unknowing, that is one of the most important gifts that we can give,” says director Iqbal Khan. Khan has directed at Shakespeare’s Globe, in…
