After the West End production casting announcement was made and ensuing online harassment of Francesca Amewudah-Rivers began, the producers have called for a stop to all the hateful comments.
To coincide with the publication of
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Race, we talked to some of the contributors of the volume. We asked them what they hope students and teachers would gain from their chapter, and where they hope the field will go in the future. Read on for their responses…
Scott Newstok, Rhodes College
Chapter: How to Think Like Ira Aldridge
What we can learn from the first black Shakespearean to achieve international professional renown? From 1825 until 1867, Aldridge toured throughout Europe. Just before his death, he was on the cusp of a return to his native United States. His cosmopolitan life was marked by triumphs as well as persistently racist responses to his roles. My chapter surveys seven of Ira Aldridge’s strategies for succeeding on the nineteenth-century stage: