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

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. 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. …