RSC casts Sharon D Clarke as black lesbian Othello in reimagining of play

Sharon D Clarke brought the project to the RSC with the twist that Othello would be depicted as a black lesbian general married to a much younger Desdemona. Illustration: RSC View image in fullscreen Sharon D Clarke brought the project to the RSC with the twist that Othello would be depicted as a black lesbian general married to a much younger Desdemona. Illustration: RSC RSC casts Sharon D Clarke as black lesbian Othello in reimagining of play Three-time Olivier winner to play general viewed through ‘urgent new lens’ of misogynoir in futuristic production The Royal Shakespeare Company has cast Sharon D Clarke as a black lesbian Othello in a futuristic reimagining of the play which is being billed as projecting the 400-year-old story through “an urgent new lens”. Clarke, who is a three-time Olivier winner and has starred in West End and Broadway productions, brought the project to the RSC with the twist that Othello would be depicted as a black lesbian general married to a younger Desdemona. The actor said the production would recall her Olivier-winning performance in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, which recast the Jewish Loman family as African American. “Everything was ramped up,” she said of the casting change. View image in fullscreen Sharon D Clarke. Photograph: Pip/RSC “The American dream became so visceral because you could see the American dream and the impossibilities of it for that family. I’m hoping now through this lens with Othello, you will have to see things differently.” Clarke added: “She is predominantly in a male environment, so how does she deal with that on a day-to-day basis? How does she keep her dignity and her strength and her power and her womanhood on display? ” The RSC’s production will be set in the future, to avoid “the whole camouflage” thing, said Clarke, with a 15-year age gap between Othello and Desdemona. The RSC has made theatrical history with previous Othello productions in the UK: Hugh Quarshie became the first black actor to play Iago at the RSC in 2015. But Clarke isn’t the first black British woman to play Othello as a lesbian. Gemma Bodinetz’s 2018 production at Liverpool’s Everyman cast Bridgerton star Golda Rosheuvel as the tragic general . At the time, Bodinetz said it was a bold attempt to “make the play feel electric again”. View image in fullscreen Monique Touko. Photograph: Sèverine Howell-Meri/RSC Monique Touko will be directing the RSC production which looks at Othello through the lens of misogynoir; the term coined by gay black feminist American academic Moya Bailey , who defined it as “ the particular brand of hatred directed at black women ”. Clarke said she would channel her own experiences of being an out lesbian, such as being told by family that if you are gay, “you’re never going to work, you’re never going to get family and never going to fall in love”. “I’m going to incorporate that within her,” said Clarke. “She is the strong leader, but those vulnerabilities are still going to