Books 11

This Round-Up keeps you updated on works reflecting the imagination and creativity, and the problems and potential, of Black writers, artists, philosophers and activists, entrepreneurs, media leaders and politicians.

Blackness of being Shakespeare's Othello

James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones. Othello. Faber and Faber. 2003; David Oyelowo. Henry VI, Part I, Faber and Faber 2003

Shakespeare's Othello, set in Venice and written in early 1600, focused on elements of the black man in ways that swung between the twin poles of modernity and primitivism.

Othello was a "noble moor" - a North African Muslim convert to Christianity - a highly esteemed military leader and a cultured practitioner of the modern arts of government and warfare. However, alas, he was a "black man" with more than a hint of primitive passions. And white audiences have preferred this simple two dimensional view of Shakespeare's Othello ever since.

But Black thespians for nearing two centuries have played Othello through the prism of their own, often bitter, experiences on and off the theatrical stage; a fact that is not widely known. A new series of books authored by two Shakespearians of African heritage or birth should change that.

Ira Aldridge
The most notable early Black Othello was the African American actor Ira Aldridge, and he played his role amidst a barrage of insults. Villainous London newspapers greeted "this unseemly nigger" when Ira Aldridge first stepped on the stage in the 1830s. They objected "In the name of propriety" to a white actress, Miss Ellen Tree, being "pawed about" on the stage by a Black man.

Yet the "tragedian of colour" went on to confound his critics. His "skill, versatility and talent" won rapturous praise from his supporters, not only with his performances of the "noble moor" but as Shylock, Macbeth and Richard III, the bard's traditionally white roles.

His biographer remembers him as "The first to show that a Black man could scale any heights in theatre reached by a white man - and recreate with equal artistry the greatest characters in world drama".

Paul Robeson
One hundred and thirteen years later, Paul Robeson (with co-star Uta Hagen as Desdemona) sent shock waves through audiences in the longest-running Shakespeare revival ever offered on the Broadway stage (295 performances). Robeson, too, played Othello in the thick of race conflict and lynching threats, a task to which the acclaimed US civil rights hero brought a grand measure of dignity. Stunning and provocative, violent and tender were the words some reviewers used. Robeson's acting was the landmark performance of Othello of the 20th century and far surpassed that of Laurence Olivier in 1965, say knowledgeable contemporary Shakespearian actors and critics.

But what of the heirs to Aldridge and Robeson? How do they fare? The commentaries of outstanding actors James Earl Jones and David Oyelowo in two small books give insight into the lives and artistry of Black Shakespearians.

James Earl Jones
The African American James Earl Jones, born 1931 in the southern state of Mississippi, has played Othello seven times at different stages in his life. Most controversially, audiences in the racially-charged 1960s expressed their horror at a black male-white female love story.

Despite the ranting of the right wing press and race-hate groups such as the Klu Klux Klan, Jones' "dignified" portrayal of Othello, cast doubt on one of the great dogmas of the 19th century - the claim of the supremacy of white men over black.

Contrary to those who imagined Othello solely as a wretched, humble "American Negro", in his book Jones helps the reader understand how he played the character. "Othello was no Westernized African man" who would have been inhibited by the stigma of second class citizenship, he says. "As a prince [by birth], he became a warrior, he was taken prisoner and sold to slavery, a slavery that did not reduce his noble nature, but in some ways enriched it by widening his consciousness," says Jones.

David Oyelowo

David Oyelowo
From Aldridge to Robeson and Jones, Black actors have continued to reinterpret and expand the bard's most notable characters. David Oyelowo's portrayal of Henry VI in a 2001 production was the first time a Black actor has played an English monarch at Britain's prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company.

Most difficult, he says, was interpreting the human and religious persona of a youth barely beyond puberty and on the verge of sexual awakening. His critically acclaimed portrayal of the Christian King won him a nomination as Best Newcomer in a Classical Role.

When traditionalists exhibited outrage that a Black actor was going to play a British king, Oyelowo responded in press reports saying: ‹Theater by its very nature is make-believe. If I‰m on stage and I say I‰m in tears, you believe me. If I say I‰ve got an army of 30,000 off stage, you believe me. I don‰t know why if I suddenly say that I‰m the king of England that is so much more controversial.Š

Oyelowo, born in 1976 to Nigerian parents, writes with engaging honesty of his stage journey from parts in Antony and Cleopatra, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Coriolanus to a novice actor playing a tyro king. In his distinguished career, Oyelowo has garnered honours for his work in theatre, film, television and radio.

Praising "the Black actors who had opened the way for me", he mentions with affection Paul Robeson and Edric O'Connor. Caribbean-born O'Connor was the first Black actor to appear at the Royal Shakespeare Company, probably the most famous classical theatre group in the world, in 1958. Oyelowo also pays homage to his fellow thespians in more recent years: Rudolph Walker, Adrian Lester, Lenny James, David Harewood and Hugh Quarshie.

There is little doubt that Black actors have brought Shakespeare's plays alive with their minds, bodies and experiences. As a result, they have left an indelible mark on the history of British classical theatre.

Though none of them are from Shakespeare's land or, with few exceptions, have the features and skin colour of his characters, Black actors have effectively interpreted and colonised the Shakespearian language and theatrical landscape.

And, no wonder! "You don't hire a Black man to play Othello without listening to his experience of living in a white, racist society", as Ghanaian-born Hugh Quarshie, popular "Holby City" TV actor and member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, has famously said.

A Story of Hannibal

Raiders of the Sands

Frances Somers Cocks, Abraham Hannibal and the Raiders of the Sands; and Abraham Hannibal and the Battle of the Throne. Goldhawk Press, London, 2003

Hats off to Frances Somers Cocks for her fact-fiction books on Abraham Petrovich Hannibal, 1698-1781 (see notes).The author takes Hannibal's history by the tale and gives it a good shake. In Raiders of the Sands the African boy Abraham Hannibal endures enslavement, attacks by elephants and crocodiles, a landslide and kidnapping to deliver brotherly greetings from the Emperor of Ethiopia to the King of the Franks of Europe. The Battle for the Throne recounts the hero's adventures as he finds fame and freedom as a general in the Russian army, royal confidante and citizen of St Petersburg, founded by his mentor Czar Peter the Great.

Battle of the Throne

Aimed at 8-12 year-olds, the self-published books are a labour of love. MS Somers Cocks, who is white, shows great sympathy for her subject and used her school holidays to follow Hannibal's travels -a journey which took her through many countries by camel, bus, lorry, train and boat. Each volume includes illustrations, a short bibliography, glossary and acknowledgements. Poet Benjamin Zephaniah says: "I loved the books - those illustrations are great".

Note
Hannibal was the great-grandfather of the literary icon of Russia, Alexander Pushkin. Considered "Russia's counterpoint to Shakespeare, Pushkin immortalized his illustrious ancestor in an unfinished historical novel, Arap Petra Velikogo (1827) or The Negro of Peter the Great. For other insights and opinions see "The Other Pushkin: Ethiop's son. Not blackamoor" in the Chronicleworld archive http://www.chronicleworld.org; and Professor Runoko Rashidi's web site Global African Presence http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/runoko.html

CD ROMs

Transatlantic Slave Trade produced by the National Museums of Liverpool 2003. Curators at the National Museum in Liverpool have created this new CD ROM resource on Liverpool's connection with slavery, and the city's early Black settlements.

Five sections cover people, places, journeys, things and the city of Liverpool. There is a Help section and a glossary accessed from the main menu. Additional resources, aimed at teachers and students, include audio transcripts, teaching prompts and imagery.

Web sites

Here are some important contributions to the growing research material available on Blacks in Britain.

Moving Here http://www.movinghere.org.uk/
Moving Here is the ultimate free-access UK database of digitised photographs, maps, objects, documents and audio items recording migration experiences of the past 200 years.

It makes tracing the roots of Caribbean, Irish, Jewish and South Asian communities much easier for relatives as well as researchers. The data is drawn from official sources including 30 local, regional and national Museums, Archives and Libraries from across England.

The project's senior partners are the Black Cultural Archives, British Library, Jewish Museum London, London Metropolitan Archives, Museum of London, National Maritime Museum, National Archives, Royal Geographical Society, Victoria and Albert Museum and West Yorkshire Archives Service.

Furthermore, a Chronicleworld reader suggests the following sites of relevance to Black Britons

Every Generation
http://www.everygeneration.co.uk/index.htm Dedicated to empowering and influencing the Black community through history, family genealogy and heritage.

Roots for real
http://www.rootsforreal.com/english/contact.html Assists in tracing your roots through DNA

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