"Is This the Noble Moor?"

Alternative title: American Moor
Synopsis: Podcast from the Folger Shakespeare Library. Othello is the story of a tragic murder and suicide involving a dark-skinned general and his aristocratic, white-skinned bride. Who should direct it? Who is "allowed" to? What if a white director and the actor he’s cast as Othello simply do not see eye-to-eye on the play’s subtext, the Moor’s motivations, and what the audience is supposed to take away from the production? That conflict is at the heart of a one-man show currently (April 2016) being performed around the country called ‘American Moor’. In it, a black actor - the play’s author, Keith Hamilton Cobb - stands on stage and addresses an invisible, white director who simply does not "get" Othello. Their disagreement allows for a searing exploration of the gulf between black and white Americans that some like to believe simply does not exist. Cobb is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev.
Series: Shakespeare Unlimited
Language: English
Country: United States
Medium: Audio
Recording date: 9 Aug 2016
Duration: 25 mins