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Othello in European Culture
Edited by Elena Bandín Fuertes, Francesca Rayner and Laura Campillo Arnaiz
[Shakespeare in European Culture 3] 2022
► pp. 113–132

Chapter 6
From black to white, from man to beast, from tragical to comical

Representations of Othello on the modern Greek stage

| University of Athens

This chapter explores different ways of reading, staging and playing Othello on the modern Greek stage. It deals mostly, but not solely, with four productions of Othello by the Greek National Theatre from the 1930s to the 1980s. Largely based on material from the archives of the National Theatre, this essay focuses on the way the directors chose to present Othello’s racial identity. The figure of the Moor in Greek popular culture is also discussed, along with the presence of African communities in Greece, in an attempt to trace the images of black people available to modern Greek audiences. Moreover, the need for blackface is questioned, prompted by a recent Greek production of the play, featuring a white Othello. Last, but not least, the latest Greek production of Othello is discussed with regard to blackface and political correctness.

Keywords: Othello, racial identity, blackface, modern Greek theatre, Greek popular culture, African communities in Greece, political correctness
Article outline
  • Othello’s colour
  • Othello on the modern Greek stage
  • Melas’s 1942 production and Myrat’s anti-racist statement
  • Politis’s 1933 production and Veakis’s black oversized Othello
  • Solomos’s 1958 production and Kotsopoulos’s “primitivism”
  • Mouzenidis’s 1973 production and Othello’s opaque identity
  • Evangelatos’s 1982 production and Logothetis’s bestial Othello
  • The black figure in Anglophone and Greek popular culture: The grotesque and the comical
  • A note on African communities and African culture in Greece
  • The questionable necessity of blackface
  • Fragoulis’s 2019 production and Papadopoulos’s white Othello
  • The Moor turns white: Othello by Aimilios Chilakis and Manolis Dounias (summer season 2021, on tour)
  • Political correctness
  • A brief conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 25 May 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sec.3.06geo
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