Cast diversity in better light, theatres urged

Costume and design need rethinking to do justice to actors with darker skin tones, say experts

THE increasing use of black and Asian actors has led some in theatre to congratulate themselves on the growing diversity of the British stage.

But critics have warned that casting ethnic minority actors without paying attention to the way they are lit, or what colour costumes they wear, puts them at a disadvantage to white actors.

An expert at London’s Globe Theatre says that black and Asian actors can be obscured by dark costumes, furnishings and the gloomy lighting often associated with works by Shakespeare and other period dramatists. Producers are being urged to pay more attention to the set design, lighting and costumes used in plays featuring ethnic minority actors, so the audience gets the most out of their performances.

Dr Farah Karim-Cooper, head of higher education and research at Shakespeare’s Globe, said: “Using the same lighting and stage design as you do for white actors puts actors of colour at a disadvantage. There is a danger with traditionally dark, tragic, stage settings, that actors of colour merge into the background.

She added: “Dark costumes can have a similar effect, though it is not just necessarily period clothes which do this – in fact white collars and ruffs can frame and highlight a dark face.” The Globe is staging a workshop tomorrow to explore issues raised by the casting of more black and Asian actors in theatre productions.

The event, part of the theatre’s Shakespeare and Race season, poses the question of whether traditional choices of costume, set and lighting discriminate against black and Asian actors in favour of white actors. Dr Karim-Cooper said: “In past productions I’ve noticed that the actor playing, say Othello, is not lit as well as the other actors and that the stage has been painted the same colour as his skin.

“Some productions recall the ‘exotic representations’ of Othello, which accentuate the contrast of white eyes against black skin. Having an actor of colour against a dark stage magnifies this and this harks back to Laurence Olivier’s production of Othello.”

The Globe’s current production of the Shakespeare tragedy, starring black actors Andre Holland as Othello and Sheila Atim as Emilia, alongside Mark Rylance as Iago, uses an open set design and universal lighting to avoid shadows that could obscure the actors’ faces.

In one scene Othello’s white top enhances rather than obscures Holland’s face, as does Atim’s gold dress.

“It’s a case of thinking about lighting the stage better, or having cos- tumes or set design that highlight the skin tones. Different combinations of lighting colours can be used for different skin tones,” said Dr Karim-Cooper.

The US-born Shakespeare scholar says cinema has already begun to think more carefully about the way different skin tones can be lit in order to improve the representation of ethnic minority actors on screen.

The Oscar-winning film Moonlight drew particular praise for the way its African-American actors were lit.

“We’ve seen this happen in film, where a lot more thought now goes in to how to capture the luminescence of actors of colour.

“We want people to become more conscious and aware of this in theatre,” said Dr Karim-Cooper, who has previously written on the role and on the use of cosmetics in Shakespearean and Renaissance dramas. She insists that the issue has nothing to do with what some might dismiss as “political correctness” but it is about the ability of theatre to reflect the wide variety of human types.

“We live in a world that is not just populated with white people – and audiences need to see a reflection of themselves on stage,” said Dr KarimCooper.

“We want to hold a mirror up to nature and that means reflecting all of us in our variety.”

‘We live in a world not populated just with white people – audiences need to see a reflection of themselves’