Sir Patrick: I’m going to play Othello as white man
WHEN civil rights activist Pa u l Robeson took the role of Othello on Broadway in 1943, one reviewer declared that ‘no white man should ever dare play the part again’.
In the 70 years since then, political correctness has forced most white actors to steer well clear of William Shakespeare’s tragic Moor.
Now, however, 75-year-old Star Trek actor Sir Patrick Stewart is to boldly go where few of his white contemporaries have gone before.
He has decided to challenge the colour ban and even plans to appear in a new production of Othello with himself in the title role.
‘In the big picture, everyone should be able to play anything and I am against embargoes on actors playing roles that differ from their own ethnicity or gender,’ he tells me at a party in Soho he attended with his wife, Sunny Ozell, 36.
‘I am in favour of as much diversity as possible because it’s art — it’s not politics, it’s not government, it’s creativity.’
The Yorkshireman, who became a Hollywood star through his performances in blockbusters including the X-Men series, says actors have a duty to challenge such conventions. ‘At times theatre has to run into the arms of politics and run into the arms of taste and prejudice and hatred and all of those strong feel- ings that people have and not turn away from anything.’ Sir Patrick played Othello in a U.S. production in 1997 and says he would not ‘black up’ when he reprises the role in his planned new staging of the play.
‘I want to do Othello again, now that it’s nearly 20 years on since I last played it. I would do it without painting my face black; I want to play a white Othello again.’ Sir Laurence Olivier played Othello in the celebrated 1965 big-screen adaptation, but by the time it was filmed again 30 years later only black actors were considered acceptable for the part, with Laurence Fishburne winning the role. Sir Patrick’s comments echo those of James Bond villain Steven Berkoff, who said last month that ‘the fiends of political correctness’ had turned the role into a ‘no-go zone’ for white men.