Shifting the stage: Transposing Theatre’s Canon

As a West African transposition of The Duchess of Malfi comes to Leeds, one writer considers the possibilities and pitfalls that come with reimagining the Western theatrical canon

For much of recent memory, being a black, classical stage actor has meant opting between the roles of the subhuman, animalistic Caliban in The Tempest and the militaristic, jealous protagonist in Othello – a vast choice. The lauded work of BAME actors like Cush Jumbo, Don Warrington, Adrian Lester, Sophie Okonedo and Paapa Essiedu in the plays of Chekhov, Miller and the Bard has given a much-needed push to casting directors to look outside their traditional purview when casting the Western canon's leading roles – but too often these opportunities remain rare and fleeting.

According to the British Black and Asian Shakespeare database, the number of black and Asian actors in Shakespearean roles has fallen since the high point of 2012 (183 roles) and these actors are frequently cast in minor roles. In light of this, production companies and theatres are increasingly seeking to reimagine and adapt the canon to allow for diverse casts, and to give BAME audiences – who are on average less likely to visit the theatre – an opportunity to see themselves represented on stage. An upcoming reimagining at West Yorkshire Playhouse of The Duchess of Malfi, where the play’s setting is transported to West Africa and the Duchess becomes Iyalode of Eti, follows in a line of productions reshaping the classics to focus on contemporary concerns and issues.

It’s interesting that a large number of these transposition plays are relocated to the African continent. It speaks volumes that audiences find it easier to see black actors in positions of authority as military leaders, court officials and monarchs in a foreign continent, with which the performers may be completely unfamiliar, than as members of the British establishment. Seemingly, it is somehow more credible to see a London-based actor portray a head of state from the other side of the world than it is to place them in a large estate four miles from their home.

Successes and failures

Last year, one of the most renowned directors working in British theatre, Trevor Nunn, was widely criticised for using an exclusively Caucasian cast of actors for his production, The Wars of the Roses. His defence was that the choice was an “artistic decision”, reflecting “historical verisimilitude.” Of course, it’s a historic fact that there hasn’t been a BAME monarch or Prime Minister in the UK, but the idea of clinging, limpet-like, to an ideal of total historical accuracy is a one-way road to certain creative death. 

There will inevitably be historical gaps and inaccuracies in every production, and an attempt to immaculately recreate the context of a play’s creation rejects the entire basis of interpretation and retelling. Audiences don’t want to see a play performed in the same way that has been seen many times before; instead, looking for different readings is vital for a play to resonate in changing times.

Transporting a play to an alternative setting and era can foster new meanings and ways of construing the canon. Gregory Doran successfully staged an African production of Julius Caesar at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in 2012. As well as renewing the play’s use of dreams and omens through African mythology, Doran also brought out the contemporary nuances of autocratic militarism by reflecting on the nature of modern dictatorships in some African countries. Michael Buffong’s All My Sons at Manchester's Royal Exchange (2013) similarly extended Arthur Miller’s exploration of the downfalls of consumerism by drawing attention to the particular racial injustices in employment and education in Ohio.

New settings are not enough

However, transferring the classical texts of the Western canon for BAME actors and audiences also has some pitfalls. Simply shifting classic plays to a new setting can appear to reinforce the idea that the Western, Caucasian experience is the frame for all other experiences, denying the global and racial particulars of history. If the reimagined play doesn’t try to acknowledge or question some of the assumptions or erasures of the original text, then the realities of the British upper class curiously come to stand in for the historical experiences of black people.

Such productions also represent another way of suppressing diverse stories, by addressing the lack of visible diversity in British theatre without affecting its structural causes: an unwillingness to risk money on new, innovative plays and a lack of BAME writers working on their own stories.

Belle and Hamilton: a way forward? 

The unexpected success of Amma Asante’s film Belle and the worldwide phenomenon of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton represent a very different way of providing historical, substantial roles to BAME performers. Belle follows the life of Dido Belle, an illegitimate, mixed-race relation of the 1st Earl of Mansfield who became an aristocratic heiress in 18th-century England. The film offers relief from the bland, Julian Fellowes-esque version of history – where servants live the life of Riley and their overlords always try to act in the most benevolent, genial way possible to their underlings – and is a much-needed refutation of the idea that black people have only became evident in history since the 60s. 

Hamilton takes on the story of the founding of America, relaying the tale of Alexander Hamilton with a diverse cast and relying on the African-American influences of jazz, blues, rap and R'n'B. Hamilton and Belle are both historical dramas with BAME protagonists, but neither relies on an original, canonical text.

These two very different stories are hybrids of new and old forms. Hamilton tells the narrative of a Founding Father’s immigrant experience, reinterpreted by a BAME cast – while also allowing the story to be told through the outlet of African-American music. Belle is a total outlier in the British period drama industry, imparting the story of a mixed-race aristocrat in a well-worn British form.

It may be comforting to imagine we live in a post-racial society, but as long as reality proves the opposite, we have to make the cultural leap of not only placing BAME actors in history, but allowing them to speak in their own voice as well. As Hamilton's Leslie Odom Jr. puts it: “Colour-blind casting is great, but you know what's better? Roles that are actually written for you.”