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Reply 160
They would have to find a boy pretending to be a boy but whose character is a girl pretending to be a boy to play Portia.
(edited 7 years ago)
Judge them not by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.

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I'm sorry but the French have always been a white race. You simply cannot have a black woman as a white queen
Reply 163
Original post by NickLCFC
But it isn't their history and it's that simple. You don't need to purposefully portray an inaccurate representation of history just so they can 'identify' with this country more.


So just because someone is of a different ethnicity and their ancestors happened not to live in this country at the time of the event means they cannot view it as part of their history?

I think most British people would consider Boudica to be part of their history even though most British people are descended from later migrants, such as the Anglo Saxons etc.
Original post by Maker
They would have to find a boy pretending to be a boy but whose character is a girl pretending to be a boy to play Portia.


Merchant of Venice might be casting challenge:-three Jews, a Moroccan, a Spaniard, a gay Italian and a dark skinned woman.

Mind you, not as difficult as Romeo and Juliet where the cast would all be locked up for child pornography.

Or as Omar Sherrif reportedly said whilst freezing in the snow waiting for his next scene in Dr Zhivago: "I'm an African. Bring me my camel"
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 165
Original post by nulli tertius
Merchant of Venice might be casting challenge:-three Jews, a Moroccan, a Spaniard, a gay Italian and a dark skinned woman.

Mind you, not as difficult as Romeo and Juliet where the cast would all be locked up for child pornography.

Or as Omar Sherrif reportedly said whilst freezing in the snow waiting for his next scene in Dr Zhivago: "I'm an African. Bring me my camel"


Leonardo Dicaprio could claim Italian ancestry unlike Claire Danes when they were in Romeo and Juliet.

I think Shariff was considered a bit miscasted in Dr Zhivago but I don't think his ethnicity was the reason.
I too, am a little annoyed by this. Not out of racial hatred or anything, but for both historical accuracy, and for the BBC's obsessive Political Correctness quotas.

As others have said, I would have no problem with Black people/ other ethnic minorities playing fictional Shakespeare characters from the Comedies and Tragedies, I.e Romeo and Juliet, Prospero, Ariel and Caliban from The Tempest etc. But in a Shakespeare HISTORY, where, in the time period in England, the character is obviously going to be white, the BBC's Political Correctness does bug me.
Again, in the same way, there would be a moral/ political outrage if a White person were to play Martin Luther King, a black slave, or Shaka Zulu for example. The BBC would NEVER cast a White person for the role of Othello, in the same vein. Even though Othello is a fictional Shakespeare tragedy, it is clearly stated, by Shakespeare himself, that he is meant to be Black. The discrimination he suffers is the whole point of the story.

Cue the accusations of racial hatred...
Reply 167
Original post by Phipp91
I too, am a little annoyed by this. Not out of racial hatred or anything, but for both historical accuracy, and for the BBC's obsessive Political Correctness quotas.

As others have said, I would have no problem with Black people/ other ethnic minorities playing fictional Shakespeare characters from the Comedies and Tragedies, I.e Romeo and Juliet, Prospero, Ariel and Caliban from The Tempest etc. But in a Shakespeare HISTORY, where, in the time period in England, the character is obviously going to be white, the BBC's Political Correctness does bug me.
Again, in the same way, there would be a moral/ political outrage if a White person were to play Martin Luther King, a black slave, or Shaka Zulu for example. The BBC would NEVER cast a White person for the role of Othello, in the same vein. Even though Othello is a fictional Shakespeare tragedy, it is clearly stated, by Shakespeare himself, that he is meant to be Black. The discrimination he suffers is the whole point of the story.

Cue the accusations of racial hatred...


The argument for historical accuracy doesn't really work as Shakespeare deliberately ignores historical facts in many of his history plays to make them better, more dramatic, plays.
Original post by .ed..
The argument for historical accuracy doesn't really work as Shakespeare deliberately ignores historical facts in many of his history plays to make them better, more dramatic, plays.


Yes, of course Shakespeare would've left out a lot of historical accuracies in his Histories. He had to pander to the Tudor dynasty's regime, or face execution, i.e in his probably less than compelling portrayal of Richard III. But the point remains. Margaret of Anjou was obviously not Black. There are Medieval illustrations of her, which, surprisingly enough, depict her as Caucasian. Shakespeare's histories are still BASED on real life history, which, in my opinion, should state the facts that we know about that are contained in the drama.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Phipp91

Again, in the same way, there would be a moral/ political outrage if a White person were to play a black slave


How could a white person play a black slave?

And there are many examples where white people have played roles that have been even more inaccurate in the past. This doesn't get media coverage to.

And do you know why? NO ONE CARES
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Phipp91
Yes, of course Shakespeare would've left out a lot of historical accuracies in his Histories. He had to pander to the Tudor dynasty's regime, or face execution, i.e in his probably less than compelling portrayal of Richard III. But the point remains. Margaret of Anjou was obviously not Black. There are Medieval illustrations of her, which, surprisingly enough, depict her as Caucasian. Shakespeare's histories are still BASED on real life history, which, in my opinion, should state the facts that we know about that are contained in the drama.


How can you say the point remains when Shakespeare himself wrote plays that are historically inaccurate? If you're this fussed about a black person playing a white role then you need to also be fussed about the accuracies within the plot.

Facts are irrelevant in a drama that isnt even loosely based on reality
Original post by Phipp91
I too, am a little annoyed by this. Not out of racial hatred or anything, but for both historical accuracy, and for the BBC's obsessive Political Correctness quotas.

The BBC would NEVER cast a White person for the role of Othello, in the same vein

Cue the accusations of racial hatred...


Yes, here is an accusation, not of racial hatred but of racism.

French queens can be played by English actresses. Parts that were written for teenage boys can be played by mature women. Richard II can be played by an Irish woman. Battles that were fought in the open air can take place on enclosed stages. The ages of historical figures can be mangled. Events that spanned decades in real life can be compressed into a few months in a play. Bohemia can acquire a non-existent coastline. You don't care about any of that. But cast a black actress in a part written for a white boy and suddenly you are spitting bile at the BBC.

And by the way here is Bob Hoskins playing Othello in a BBC production

[video]https://youtu.be/t9-VolqfNPk?list=PL6pVoqUpYJd-73maMCJfUMCR6P7GPYEqP[/video]
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Assan
White people have played Cleopatra forever......


Cleopatra was from the Ptolemaic dynasty who were Macedonians (Ancient Greeks), so that isn't entirely inaccurate.
Doesnt bother me in the slightest actually, its about the adapatability of Shakespeare. Its performed all over the world on all continents, so the fact you dont have someone French to play someone French isnt soemthing to lose sleep over. I cnat remember similar outrage when Olivier played Othello , Al Jolson blacked himself up pr Gerard Butler playes Set with a scottish accent.
Original post by NickLCFC
The new series of the 'The Hollow Crown' on the BBC has cast a black woman (Sophie Okonedo) as Margaret of Anjou. This is an actual historical figure who was the wife of Henry VI and thus was Queen of England from 1445-1461 and from 1470-1471.

See the trailer for the new series:

[video="youtube;W0kO-pVsc3E"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0kO-pVsc3E[/video]


The only reason I post this is because there always seems to be an outrage when movies/tv shows are supposedly 'white washed'. For example, more recently, Scarlett Johansson was cast as an Asian character in a Hollywood adaptation of a Japanese anime franchise: 'Ghost in the Shell'. There was outrage because this was apparently 'yellowface' (see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB0lrSebyng).

That is just a fantasy character however. The difference with this is that it's a real historical figure being represented inaccurately. Just imagine the outrage if someone like Martin Luther King was cast as a white guy.


This can only end one way: White Genocide.
Next time we cast Nelson Mandela we should make sure he was from South Africa and was a member of a communist party in his youth, hell if he was in prison even better.

I don't see the point of this, surely the character is more important than the skin? When does it become historically inaccurate to say, play a Polish character as someone who is in real life white Bulgarian? Is that utterly indefensible?
Original post by irfan98
This can only end one way: White Genocide.


No, I think it'll end up with you in an asylum.
Original post by DanteTheDoorKnob
No, I think it'll end up with you in an asylum.


I was joking dude
Original post by irfan98
I was joking dude


Oh haha. I don't know how long you've been around but there's a few nuts on here so far right they'd probably think that was serious.
Original post by DanteTheDoorKnob
Oh haha. I don't know how long you've been around but there's a few nuts on here so far right they'd probably think that was serious.


ahaha, yeah I kinda got that impression after looking around the other comments...