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1

“Far more fair than black”: Othellos on the Chilean Stage

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Baldwin Lind P.

Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance

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2020

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vol. 22

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issue 37

139-170

EN

This article reviews part of the stage history of Shakespeare’s Othello in Chile and, in particular, it focuses on two performances of the play: the first, in 1818, and the last one in 2012-2020. By comparing both productions, I aim to establish the exact date and theatrical context of the first Chilean staging of the Shakespearean tragedy using historical sources and English travellers’ records, as well as to explore how the representation of a Moor and of blackness onstage evolved both in its visual dimension - the choice of costumes and the use of blackface-, and in its racial connotations alongside deep social changes. During the nineteenth century Othello became one of the most popular plays in Chile, being performed eleven times in the period of 31 years, a success that also occurred in Spain between 1802 and 1833. The early development of Chilean theatre was very much influenced not only by the ideas of the Spaniards who arrived in the country, but also by the available Spanish translations of Shakespeare; therefore, I argue that the first performances of Othello as Other - different in origin and in skin colour - were characterised by an imitative style, since actors repeated onstage the biased image of Moors that Spaniards had brought to Chile. While the assessment of Othello and race is not new, this article contrasts in its scope, as I do not discuss the protagonist’s actual origin, but how the changes in Chilean social and cultural contexts can reshape and reconfigure the performance of blackness and turn it into a meaningful translation of the Shakespearean Moor that activates audiences’ awareness of racism and fears of miscegenation.

2

Krutý Turek, ďábelský Maur. Turci, Mauři a renegáti na prknech alžbětinského a raně stuartovského jeviště

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Ferencová H.

Historie – Otázky – Problémy (History, Issues, Problems)

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2014

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vol. 6

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issue 2

29-40

EN

This study presents a literary picture of the Turks, Moors and renegades in the Elizabethan and early Stuart theatre. The depiction of these figures also provides an insight into the exotic and secret world of the Mediterranean and the adjoining lands under the rule of Islam. Questions of the religious coexistence of Muslims and Christians, conversion from one faith to another and mutual relations between England and the Ottoman Empire create a mosaic of contradictory perceptions of Turkish and Moorish characters who figure in Elizabethan and early Jacobean dramatic works.

3

De la chronique à la politique. L’histoire du Maure cruel entre le Moyen Âge et le XVIIe siècle

67%

Giernatowska J., Łódzki U.

Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Romanica

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2014

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vol. 009

EN

The story of the Moor who takes a cruel revenge on his master seems to notably express a human’s preference for bloody “fait divers”. It has been constantly quoted and adapted since the 10th century, serving as an “exemplum” which allows the authors of different nationalities to reflect on the contemporary events. The narrative structure is subjected to several modifications; however, it always contains a significant number of brutal aspects related to the act of vengeance. In fact, the force of precise and violent description correlates with the exhortation, characteristic of most of the works in question. We can observe simultaneously a certain evolution of story’s interpretation that the authors impose on the readers: being at first a part of a chronicle and collection of “exempla”, it gains a moral character in the late Middle Ages, to become finally a source of the political reflection which is particularly evident in 17th century France. All those factors, as well as the authors’ choice of literary genres, help to represent the social, moral, religious and ideological reality of the period of which the slavery is an integral part.

PL

Historia o Maurze dokonującym okrutnej zemsty na swoim panu stanowi szczególny wyraz ludzkiego upodobania do krwawego „fait divers”. Począwszy od X wieku, jest ona wielokrotnie przytaczana i adaptowana, służąc autorom różnych narodowości jako „exemplum” pozwalające snuć rozważania na temat współczesnych im wydarzeń. Struktura narracyjna ulega oczywiście w ciągu wieków modyfikacjom, nie rezygnując jednakże nigdy z brutalnych aspektów sceny zemsty. Stopień precyzji i drastyczności opisu koreluje wręcz z parenetycznym charakterem dzieł. Równocześnie zaobserwować można swoistą ewolucję interpretacji, jaką twórcy nadają sukcesywnie wykorzystywanej przez siebie opowieści: wchodząc początkowo w skład kroniki i zbiorów exemplów, uzyskuje ona pod koniec Średniowiecza wydźwięk moralny, aby stać się w końcu źródłem refleksji czysto politycznej, co widoczne jest zwłaszcza w siedemnastowiecznej Francji. Wszystkie te czynniki, włącznie z doborem odpowiednich gatunków literackich, pozwalają autorom odzwierciedlić realia ówczesnych epok, których nieodłączną część stanowi niewolnictwo.

Refine search results

1 Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Romanica

1 Historie – Otázky – Problémy (History, Issues, Problems)

1 Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance

1 Baldwin Lind P.

1 Ferencová H.

1 Giernatowska J.

1 Łódzki U.

1 2020

2 2014

“Far more fair than black”: Othellos on the Chilean Stage

Krutý Turek, ďábelský Maur. Turci, Mauři a renegáti na prknech alžbětinského a raně stuartovského jeviště

De la chronique à la politique. L’histoire du Maure cruel entre le Moyen Âge et le XVIIe siècle