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From Social Justice to Metaphor: The Whitening of Othello in the Russian Imagination

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Khomenko N.

Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance

2021

vol. 23

issue 38

75-89

Othello was the most often-staged Shakespeare play on early Soviet stages, to a large extent because of its ideological utility. Interpreted with close attention to racial conflict, this play came to symbolize, for Soviet theatres and audiences, the destructive racism of the West in contrast with Soviet egalitarianism. In the first decades of the twenty-first century, however, it is not unusual for Russian theatres to stage Othello as a white character, thus eliminating the theme of race from the productions. To make sense of the change in the Russian tradition of staging Othello, this article traces the interpretations and metatheatrical uses of this character from the early Soviet period to the present day. I argue that the Soviet tradition of staging Othello in blackface effectively prevented the use of the play for exploring the racial tensions within the Soviet Union itself, and gradually transformed the protagonist’s blackness into a generalized metaphor of oppression. As post-collapse Russia embraced whiteness as a category, Othello’s blackness became a prop that was entirely decoupled from race and made available for appropriation by ethnically Slavic actors and characters. The case of Russia demonstrates that staging Othello in blackface, even when the initial stated goals are those of racial equality, can serve a cultural fantasy of blackness as a versatile and disposable mask placed over a white face.

Od sociálně-demokratické spirituality k socialistickému realismu: koncept lidovosti v myšlení Jindřicha Honzla o divadle

75%

Kunderová R.

Theatralia: Revue současného myšlení o divadelní kultuře (Theatralia: The revue of contemporary thought on theatre culture)

2021

vol. 24

issue 1

188-215

The study examines the concept of "the popular" in the thinking of theatre director and theorist Jindřich Honzl (1894–1953). By analyzing his essays and articles, the essay describes the changes in Honzl's approach to the popular as reflected in his critical writing during his theatre career and as placed within the context of politics and theatre history. Based on the discussion of existing Czech theatre historiographic literature about Honzl (the majority of which was published before 1989), the study offers novel findings and connections, many of which have been ignored, often for ideological reasons. The essay brings a close study of Honzl's sources of inspiration, from the beginnings of his work in the era of the so-called proletarian theatre, especially by embedding Honzl's thinking in the social democratic ideology and his knowledge of post-revolutionary Soviet theatre until 1925. The essay subsequently offers a characterization of the changes in Honzl's understanding of "the popular" during his Poetism and Surrealist phases, as well as after the Second World War, when he converted to Socialist Realism.

Studie zkoumá koncept lidovosti v myšlení divadelního režiséra a teoretika Jindřicha Honzla (1894–1953). Prostřednictvím analýzy jeho studií a článků autorka pojmenovává proměny pojetí lidovosti v Honzlově uvažování během jeho divadelní kariéry a zasazuje je do divadelně-historického a politického kontextu. Na základě diskuse s dosavadní českou divadelně-historiografickou literaturou o Honzlovi, jejíž většina byla publikována před rokem 1989, přináší studie poznatky a souvislosti, které byly dosud – nezřídka z ideologických důvodů – opomíjeny. Autorka se podrobně zabývá Honzlovými inspiračními zdroji na počátku jeho divadelní činnosti v období tzv. proletářského divadla, zejména ukotvením Honzlova myšlení v sociálně-demokratické ideologii a jeho obeznámeností s porevolučním sovětským divadlem do roku 1925. Následně charakterizuje proměny Honzlova chápání lidovosti divadla v průběhu jeho poetistického a surrealistického období a po konci druhé světové války, kdy se přiklonil k socialistickému realismu.

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1 Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance

1 Theatralia: Revue současného myšlení o divadelní kultuře (Theatralia: The revue of contemporary thought on theatre culture)

1 Khomenko N.

1 Kunderová R.

2 2021

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From Social Justice to Metaphor: The Whitening of Othello in the Russian Imagination

Od sociálně-demokratické spirituality k socialistickému realismu: koncept lidovosti v myšlení Jindřicha Honzla o divadle