Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

"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’s “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 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. Keith Hamilton Cobb is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published August 9, 2016. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, “Is This the No