RSC casts Sharon D Clarke as black lesbian Othello in reimagining of play | Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company has cast Sharon D Clarke as black lesbian Othello in a futuristic re-imagining of the play billed as reflecting the 400-year-old story through an “urgent new lens”.
Clarke, a three-time Olivier winner who has appeared in West End and Broadway productions, brought the project to the RSC, which will portray Othello as a black lesbian general married to a younger Desdemona.
The actor said the production will recall his Olivier-winning performance in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, which recast the Jewish Loman family as African American. “Everything was sped up,” he said of the casting change.
“The American dream became so visceral that you could see the American dream and its impossibility for that family. Now I hope you have to look at things differently with Othello through that lens.”
Clarke added: “She’s in an environment where she’s mostly men, so how does she deal with that in day-to-day life? How does she display her dignity, strength, power and femininity?””
Clarke noted that there was a 15-year age difference between Othello and Desdemona and said the RSC production would be set in the future to avoid the “whole camouflage” thing.
The RSC has made theater history with previous productions of Othello in the UK: Hugh Quarshie became the first black actor to play Iago at the RSC in 2015. But Clarke is not the first black British woman to play Othello as a lesbian.
Gemma Bodinetz’s 2018 production at Liverpool’s Everyman stars Bridgerton star Golda Rosheuvel as the tragic general. At the time, Bodinetz said it was a bold attempt to “make the game exciting again.”
Monique Touko will direct the RSC production, which looks at Othello through the lens of misogyny; coined term by gay black feminist American academic Moya BaileyHe defined it as follows:special brand of hatred towards black women”.
Clarke said she would channel her own experiences of being a lesbian; For example, being told by your family that if you are gay, “you will never work, you will never have a family, and you will never fall in love.”
“I’ll incorporate that into it,” said Clarke. “He is a strong leader but those vulnerabilities will still be there.”
The production is part of an extended 2026-27 season at the RSC, which has had a difficult 18 months with rising costs leading to the decision to cut its workforce by 11% to avoid what joint artistic director Daniel Evans called a “dangerous situation”.
Former National Theater artistic director Rufus Norris makes his RSC directorial debut with the premiere of Brock’s Mill, by RSC writer Stewart Pringle.
Two other productions have also been announced: a touring version of Blanche McIntyre’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and an early years adaptation of David Litchfield’s children’s book The Bear and the Piano.
The RSC has also appointed Grammy, Olivier and Tony winner Martin Lowe as musical partner; Paula Stephens joined as head of sound, and Emily Burns, Ryan Day and Elizabeth Freestone also became co-directors at the company.
“We want to make as many people as possible feel welcome at the RSC through the stories we choose to tell,” said Evans and co-artistic director Tamara Harvey. Part of this, they added, was “an urgent re-examination of 400-year-old texts through a new lens.”
