Aarcflick

As always when I talk about Shakespeare's Othello, I recall the first performance I ever saw, a 1980 Royal Shakespeare Company production at London's Aldwych Theatre, with the late Sir Donald Sinden dressed in black as Shakespeare's moor. (Sinden's slow, deliberate pronunciation of "Des-daaay-muu-naaa" still resonates with me 45 years later.) Thankfully, since the 1980s, it has become the norm for Black actors to play Othello, although at least initially they were overwhelmingly the only non-white figure in an all-white cast.  While not ideal in 2026, this would underscore the play's racism (at least in the early scenes) and Othello's growing isolation once this is set aside, and it is doubts about Desdemona's infidelity that completely unsettle him, leading to tragedy. There would have been ethnic diversity in late 16th-century Venice, and this was reflected in Tom Morris's cast for his production, which featured modern costumes. David Harewoo...