Red Velvet: Australian Premiere for Adelaide’s Independent Theatre Company
In 1933, when African American Paul Robeson played Othello in London, the legendary actor/singer’s performance in the role was seen as a revolutionary, even shocking new development in theatre. Theatregoers of the time didn’t realise it, but Robeson was not creating history. There’d been a precedent by another actor one hundred years before. Now there’s to be an Australian Premiere of a new play about that trailblazing actor, Ira Aldridge. Lesley Reed reports.
Prior to 1933 the role of Othello had always been played by white actors in black makeup, or so London audiences of the time believed. So when the African American played Shakespeare’s Moor and kissed British actress Peggy Ashcroft, it must have seemed a brave, indeed revolutionary new step indeed.
What many people in 1933 didn’t know was that this development was not a first. One hundred years before that time an American actor of African descent, Ira Aldridge, had also played Othello.
Fascinated with Aldridge’s story, English playwright and actress Lolita Chakrabarti recently wrote Red Velvet, a play about Ira Aldridge’s groundbreaking performance. It premiered in London in 2012, starring Chakrabarti’s husband, Adrian Lester (star of British television’s Hustle). Lester’s performance earned him the Olivier Awards’ Best Actor gong.
This month, Adelaide’s Independent Theatre is producing the Australian Premiere of Red Velvet. It stars Shedrick Yarkpai, who is creating history himself, as the first African-born actor to play Othello in Australia.
Ira Aldridge’s story is fascinating. Having played Shakespeare in New York, Aldridge moved to England in 1824. He acted to great acclaim in provincial theatres and in minor houses in London.
In 1833, at a time when the British Parliament was debating the abolition of slavery and pro- and anti-abolition protests were raging in the streets, great English actor Edmund Kean collapsed on stage at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden. Ira Aldridge was invited to replace Kean as Othello, with Ira performing at last in one of the two major theatres in London.
The public reaction was supportive, but financed by interests dependent on the slave trade, the press reacted very differently. They savaged Aldridge's performance. Their reviews – which are quoted at some length in the play – were virulently racist. Typical of this- "If we let a black man play Othello, then what's next? A Jew playing Shylock?"
However, Aldridge's intelligent and articulate performance undercut their pro-slavery arguments as well as the derogatory comments that black races were intellectually inferior.
Director of Independent Theatre’s Australian Premiere production, Rob Croser, says, "What makes Red Velvet so brilliant is that – while treating the main theme with the seriousness is requires and deserves – it is also hilariously funny, as it takes a very satirical backstage look at the foibles and monstrous egos of 'theatre folk'".
In addition to Shedrick Yarkpai as Ira Aldridge, the cast includes Domenic Panuccio as Pierre Laporte, Will Cox as Charles Kean, David Roach as Bernard Warde, Rebecca Plummer as Ellen Tree and Jett Zivkovic as Henry Forrester.
Adelaide audiences are accustomed to expecting fine, innovative work from Independent Theatre and Red Velvet promises to live up to expectations in every way.
Red Velvet rehearsal images: (top) Dominic Pannuccio, Shedrick Yarkpai & Will Cox, (middle) Hayley Smith & Rebecca Plummer and (lower) Shedrick Yarkpai, Jett Zivkovic.
WHEN: November 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28 at 7.30 pm. Matinees Sunday November 22 at 4 pm and Saturday 28th at 2 pm. Early Tuesday, November 24th at 6.30 pm.
WHERE: The Goodwood Institute Theatre, 166a Goodwood Rd, Goodwood.
TICKETS: www.independenttheatre.org.au or BASS 131 246
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