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Part of
Othello in European Culture
Edited by Elena Bandín Fuertes, Francesca Rayner and Laura Campillo Arnaiz
[Shakespeare in European Culture 3] 2022
► pp. 133–152

Chapter 7
Let it be hid?

UK Othellos, multiracial casting, hostile environments

| University of California

For four hundred years, a vast majority of UK productions of Othello trained their audiences to see only one character as black. But the 2010s were the decade in which multiracial productions of Othello went mainstream. This chapter analyses how these productions grappled with (or avoided) Britain’s race problems. It focuses on three major productions at the UK’s largest Shakespeare-producing theatres (the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Shakespeare’s Globe) and argues that a number of cultural frames – not least the fantasy of a post-racial society – determined the semiotic meaning and critical reception of the shows.

Keywords: multiracial casting, ‘colour-blind’ casting, UK education system, post-racial, Nicholas Hytner, Iqbal Khan, Claire Van Kampen, newspaper reception
Article outline
  • Framing Othello
  • “The Universal Liberality of a British Audience”
  • Directed by Nicholas Hytner (National Theatre, 2013)
  • Directed by Iqbal Khan (Royal Shakespeare Company, 2015)
  • Directed by Claire van Kampen (Shakespeare’s Globe, 2018)
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 25 May 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sec.3.07pre
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