大象传媒

This summer, professor Paul Budra and two UBC English professors collaborated with to bring audiences 鈥淩ac(e)ing Othello鈥�, an exploration and conversation about , a modern prequel to Shakespeare鈥檚 Othello.

Partly funded by 大象传媒鈥檚 Community Engagement Initiative (CEI), Budra and his UBC colleagues Patricia Badir and Vin Nardizzi decided to bring scholars and actors together to workshop this play. However, due to COVID-19, this workshop had to be online, rather than on stage.

The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement inspired the choice of Harlem Duet, a 1997 play written by Canadian author Djanet Sears.

鈥淓veryone involved thought we should do something that speaks to this political moment and helps make Shakespeare relevant to our time,鈥� says Budra. 鈥淚t seemed to be the perfect combination of a play that deals profoundly with racial issues and is based on Shakespeare.鈥�

For those familiar with Shakespeare鈥檚 Othello, Harlem Duet can be viewed somewhat as a prequel. The audience needs to imagine that Othello had a first wife named Billie, who he leaves for Desdemona. The play also takes place in three different time periods: just after the American Civil War in 1860, during the rise of culture in Harlem in 1928, and the present day.

鈥淲e see the different pressures on race relations in these three different eras,鈥� says Budra.

On August 29^th, the online audience for 鈥淩ac(e)ing Othello鈥� saw a 75-minute multimedia presentation that explored the meaning and relevance of Harlem Duet, including its relevance to Shakespeare鈥檚 Othello. Between scenes from Harlem Duet, performed by three noted Canadian actors, Djanet Sears discussed the play with renowned American Shakespeare scholar Ayanna Thompson.

When asked why she wrote Harlem Duet, Sears said the impetus came from always seeing versions of Othello drawn and painted by white people. She referred to seeing Laurence Olivier perform the title role in blackface when she was 11 to hearing the term, 鈥淥thello syndrome鈥� applied to O. J. Simpson during his 1995 murder trial. This made Sears wonder what it would be like to explore Othello from a black woman鈥檚 perspective.

Othello is also very much Iago鈥檚 play. The Shakespearean villain has the most lines, and Othello, Thompson notes, is 鈥渁n impersonation of blackness.鈥� Shakespeare intended for the character to be played Richard Burbage, a white actor in black prosthetics. Thus, in Harlem Duet, the central character becomes Billie, Othello鈥檚 first wife.

Thompson also inquired why Sears wanted to produce Harlem Duet again now in the era of George Floyd. Sears explained that Bard on the Beach approached her, wanting to tell this story. She emphasized that what we need to examine is how the stories we tell help or hinder the society that we want to produce.