Dr Jami Rogers Books

Shakespeare is central to British theatre, yet the contributions of Ira Aldridge and subsequent Shakespearean performers of African, African-Caribbean, South Asian, and East Asian heritage remain underrecognized. This account reveals how Shakespearean theatre in Britain has integrated from the 1960s to the present, drawing on extensive evidence from the British Black and Asian Shakespeare Performance Database and interviews with nearly forty performers and directors. It chronicles pivotal productions that showcased groundbreaking castings of Black and Asian actors in significant Shakespearean roles. Highlights include Zakes Mokae as one of three Black witches in the 1966 production of Macbeth, Norman Beaton as Angelo in the first majority Black cast of Measure for Measure at the National Theatre in 1981, and Josette Simon as Isabella in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 1987 production. Other notable performances include Adrian Lester in Henry V, Iqbal Khan’s all South Asian cast in Much Ado About Nothing in 2012, and Paapa Essiedu as Hamlet in 2016. Featuring firsthand accounts from key figures like Joseph Marcell, Adrian Lester, and Noma Dumezweni, this work provides an invaluable history of Black and Asian Shakespeareans, emphasizing their achievements and ongoing challenges in classical theatre.