Authors: William Shakespeare
1.
Thomas Baldwin,
The Organization and Personnel of the Shakespearean Company
(1961), p. 248.
2.
Henry Jackson, a member of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in a letter originally in Latin dated September 1610 (Ms ccc 304ff 83v and 84r), in
Eyewitnesses of Shakespeare: First Hand Accounts of Performances 1590–1890,
ed. Gamini Salgado (1975), p. 30.
3.
Marvin Rosenberg,
The Masks of Othello: The Search for the Identity of Othello, Iago, and Desdemona by Three Centuries of Actors and Critics
(1961), pp. 20–7.
4.
Samuel Pepys, Diary entry, 11 October 1660.
5.
Colley Cibber,
An Apology for His Life
(1914), p. 69.
6.
Richard Steele,
The Tatler
, No. 167, 2 May 1710.
7.
Cibber,
Apology
, p. 77.
8.
Theophilus Cibber, “Barton Booth,” in
The Lives and Characters of the Most Eminent Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and Ireland
(1753), pp. 45–50.
9.
Grub Street Journal,
31 October 1734.
10.
Henry Aston in James Boaden (ed.),
The Private Correspondence of David Garrick, with the Most Celebrated Persons of His Time
, Volume I (1831–32), p. 30.
11.
Samuel Foote,
A Treatise on the Passions, so Far as They Regard the Stage: With a Critical Enquiry into the Theatrical Merit of Mr. G—k, Mr. Q—n, and Mr. B—y the First Considered in the Part of Lear, the Two Last Opposed in Othello
(1976), pp. 33–4.
12.
Arthur Murphy,
The Life of David Garrick, Esq
(1801), p. 70.
13.
Julie Hankey (ed.),
Shakespeare in Production: Othello
(2005), p. 24.
14.
Thomas Davies,
Memoirs of the Life of David Garrick
(1780), Volume II (1972), p. 240.
15.
William Cooke,
Memoirs of Charles Macklin: Comedian
(1804), p. 158.
16.
Davies,
Memoirs of the Life of David Garrick
, Volume II, p. 241.
17.
William Hazlitt,
The Complete Works of William Hazlitt
, ed. P. P. Howe after the edition of A. R. Waller and Arnold Glover, Volume 5,
Lectures on the English Poets and a View of the English Stage
(1930), p. 304.
18.
James Boaden,
Memoirs of the Life of John Philip Kemble, Esq: Including a History of the Stage from the Time of Garrick to the Present Period
, Volume I (1825), p. 256.
19.
London Magazine
, March 1785.
20.
Hankey,
Othello
, p. 35.
21.
William Hazlitt, “Mr Kean’s Iago,” in his
A View of the English Stage; or, a Series of Dramatic Criticisms
, edited by W. Spencer Jackson (1906), pp. 19–20.
22.
Leigh Hunt, review of
Othello
in
The Examiner
, No. 562, October 5, 1818, p. 632.
23.
Henry Crabb Robinson, diary entry for 19 May 1814, in
The London Theatre, 1811–1866: Selections from the Diary of Henry Crabb Robinson
, ed. Eluned Brown (1966), pp. 57–8.
24.
John Forster Kirk, “Shakespeare’s Tragedies,” quoted in Hankey,
Othello
, p. 46.
25.
William Rounesville Alger, “Othello,” in his
Life of Edwin Forrest: The American Tragedian
, Volume II (1877), pp. 768–80.
26.
Henry James, “Tommaso Salvini: In Boston (1883),” in
The Scenic Art: Notes on Acting & the Drama, 1872–1901,
ed. Allan Wade (1948), pp. 168–85.
27.
Quoted in Hankey,
Othello
, p. 55.
28.
Clement Scott, “
Othello
: Irving as Iago,” in
The Bells to King Arthur
(1896), pp. 207–9.
29.
Dutton Cook, “
Othello
at the Lyceum,” in
The Academy,
Volume XIX, No. 470, 7 May 1881, pp. 344–5.
30.
Herbert Farjeon, “A Back-Stage Tragedy,” in his
The Shakespearean Scene: Dramatic Criticisms
(1949), pp. 165–7.
31.
Margaret Webster,
Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage
(1972), pp. 106–7.
32.
Raymond Mortimer, “
Othello
at the Old Vic,”
The New Statesman & Nation
, Volume XV, No. 365, 19 February 1938, p. 287.
33.
Eric Keown, review of
Othello, Punch
, Volume CCXXI, No. 5792, 31 October 1951, p. 500.
34.
John Cottrell, “Acting for Acting’s Sake,” in his
Laurence Olivier
(1975), pp. 336–47.
35.
Robert Speaight, “Shakespeare in Britain,”
Shakespeare Quarterly,
Volume XV, No. 4, 1964, pp. 377–89.
36.
Ronald Bryden, “Olivier’s Moor,”
New Statesman
, Volume LXVII, No. 1729, 1 May 1964, p. 696.
37.
Hankey,
Othello
, p. 89.
38.
Hugh Quarshie,
Second Thoughts About Othello
, International Shakespeare Association, Occasional Paper 7, 1999.
39.
Howard Taubman, “James Earl Jones is Cast as the Moor,”
The New York Times
, 15 July 1964, p. L29.
40.
Barbara Hodgdon, “Race-ing Othello,” in
The Shakespeare Trade: Performances and Appropriations
(1998), p. 26.
41.
Judith Buchanan, “Virgin and Ape, Venetian and Infidel: Labellings of Otherness in Oliver Parker’s
Othello
,” in
Shakespeare, Film Fin de Siècle,
ed. Mark Thornton Burnett and Ramona Wray (2000), pp. 179–202.
42.
Rita Kempley, review in
Washington Post,
29 December 1995.
43.
Observer,
12 April 1959 (MacLiammóir played Iago to Orson Welles’ Othello in the 1952 film of the play).
44.
Anne Barton, “Hell and Night,”
Othello
RSC programme, 1979.
45.
Michael Billington,
Guardian
, 26 August 1989.
46.
Bob Peck,
Othello,
in Roger Sales (ed.),
Shakespeare in Perspective,
Volume Two, 1985.
47.
Donald Sinden on playing Othello, in Judith Cook,
Shakespeare’s Players
, 1983.
48.
Sello Maake Ka-Ncube on playing Othello, RSC Online Playguide, 2004.
49.
Kate Bassett,
Independent on Sunday
, 22 February 2004.
50.
Antony Sher and Sello Maake Ka-Ncube discuss acting in
Othello, Guardian
, 25 May 2004.
51.
Ray Fearon in interview with Nicci Gerrard,
Observer Magazine
, 25 April 1999.
52.
Benedict Nightingale,
The Times
, 23 April 1999.
53.
Trevor Nunn in interview,
Independent
, 17 August 1989.
54.
Anne Barton,
Times Literary Supplement
, 8 September 1989.
55.
Ben Kingsley and David Suchet in interview with Lesley Thornton,
Observer Colour Magazine
, 22 September 1985.
56.
John Higgins,
The Times
, 21 September 1985 (this portrait was used on the program cover).
57.
John Barber,
Daily Telegraph
, 26 September 1985.
58.
Michael Billington,
Guardian
, 26 September 1985.
59.
Martin Wine,
Othello: Text and Performance
, 1984.
60.
Norman Sanders note,
Othello
RSC program, 1989.
61.
Billington,
Guardian
, 26 September 1985.
62.
Michael Coveney,
Financial Times
, 26 September 1985.
63.
Stanley Wells,
Times Higher Educational Supplement
, 4 October 1985.
64.
Julia Trevelyan Oman, “The Design,”
Othello
RSC program, 1971.
65.
Ronald Bryden,
Observer
, 12 September 1971.
66.
Michael Billington,
Guardian
, 23 April 1999.
67.
Nicholas de Jongh,
Evening Standard
, 19 February 2004.
68.
Barton,
Times Literary Supplement,
8 September 1989.
69.
Michael Billington,
Guardian
, 26 August 1989.
70.
Anne Barton,
Times Literary Supplement
, 8 September 1989.
71.
Benedict Nightingale,
Times
, 20 February 2004.
72.
Gareth Lloyd Evans,
Guardian
, 10 January 1971.
73.
Norman Sanders, note,
Othello
RSC program, 1989.
74.
Virginia Mason Vaughan,
Othello: A Contextual History
, 1994.
75.
Michael Billington,
Guardian
, 20 February 2004.
76.
Benedict Nightingale,
The Times
, 20 February 2004.
77.
Michael Billington,
Guardian
, 23 April 1999.
78.
Nightingale,
The Times
, 20 February 2004.
79.
John Peter,
Sunday Times
, 29 February 2004.
80.
Coveney,
Financial Times
, 26. September 1985.
81.
Patrick Carnegy,
Spectator
, 1 May 1999.
82.
Michael Billington,
Guardian
, 8 August 1979.
83.
Christopher Edwards,
Spectator
, 2 September 1989.
84.
Barton,
Times Literary Supplement
, 8 September 1989.
85.
Frank Marcus,
Sunday Telegraph
, 12 September 1971 (his description of Elizabeth Spriggs’ performance).
86.
“Othello,” in Keith Parsons and Pamela Mason,
Shakespeare in Performance
, 1995.
87.
The promptbook notes: NB Emilia says Desdemona’s lines as she mouths them.
88.
Parsons and Mason,
Shakespeare in Performanc
e.
89.
Ben Kingsley and David Suchet in interview with Lesley Thornton,
Observer Colour Magazine
, 22 September 1985.
90.
Bob Peck,
Othello
, in Roger Sales (ed.),
Shakespeare in Perspective,
Volume Two.
91.
Barton, “Hell and Night.”
92.
Steve Grant,
Observer
, 12 August 1979.
93.
Sheridan Morley,
Punch
, 22 August 1979.
94.
Richard McCabe, “Iago in
Othello,
” in Robert Smallwood (ed.),
Players of Shakespeare
5, 2003.
95.
Ibid.
96.
John Peter,
Sunday Times
, 29 February 2004.
97.
Billington,
Guardian
, 26 September 1985.
98.
Wells,
Times Higher Educational Supplement
, 4 October 1985.
99.
Irving Wardle,
The Times
, 25 September 1985.
100.
Michael Billington,
Country Life
, 7 September 1989.
Preparation of “
Othello
in Performance” was assisted by a generous grant from the CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning) of the University of Warwick for research in the RSC archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded a term’s research leave that enabled Jonathan Bate to work on “The Director’s Cut.”
Picture research by Michelle Morton. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for assistance with picture research (special thanks to Helen Hargest) and reproduction fees.
Images of RSC productions are supplied by the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Stratford-upon-Avon. This Library, maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, holds the most important collection of Shakespeare material in the UK, including the Royal Shakespeare Company’s official archive. It is open to the public free of charge.
For more information see
www.shakespeare.org.uk
.
1.
Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun, Moorish Ambassador to Queen Elizabeth I, 1600, reproduced courtesy of the University of Birmingham Collection © the University of Birmingham
2.
Sarah Siddons (1785) Reproduced by permission of the Royal Shakespeare Company
3.
Edmund Kean (1814) Reproduced by permission of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
4.
Paul Robeson and Peggy Ashcroft (1930) Reproduced by permission of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
5.
Directed by Ronald Eyre (1979) Joe Cocks Studio Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
6.
Directed by Gregory Doran (2004) Manuel Harlan © Royal Shakespeare Company
7.
Directed by Trevor Nunn (1989) Joe Cocks Studio Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
8.
Directed by Michael Attenborough (1999) Malcolm Davies © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
9.
Directed by Gregory Doran (2004) © Stewart Hemley
10.
Reconstructed Elizabethan playhouse © Charcoalblue
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