British Black and Asian Shakespeare Performance Database
Othello (1997): National Theatre, Cottesloe Theatre
PRINCIPAL CAST: Simon Russell Beale (Iago); Maureen Beattie (Emilia); David Harewood (Othello); Claire Skinner (Desdemona); Colin Tierney (Cassio).
David Harewood was the first black actor to play Othello at the National Theatre.
The production premiered at the Salzburg Festival on 22 August 1997, where it played in a converted salt factory for 4 days before opening in the Cottesloe Theatre on 16 September. It then went on a world tour before re-opening in the Lyttelton in 1998 with the same cast. The venues it visited abroad included:
Herberger Theatre, Phoenix, Arizona, USA as part of the UK/AZ Festival
Dramatychny Theatre, Warsaw, Poland
Ginza Saison Theatre, Tokyo, Japan
Seoul Arts Centre, Korea
The Academy of Performing Arts, as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival
The Drama Academy, Beijing, China
State Opera House, Wellington, as part of New Zealand's International Festival of the Arts
Majestic Theatre, Adelaide Festival, Australia
Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, USA
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- British Black and Asian Shakespeare Database by the University of Warwick, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council 2012-2015, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. See full copyright statement.