Othello

This second edition of Othello updates the first (Bristol Classical Press 1987) both chronologically and conceptually. It includes consideration of productions from the last seventeen years and reconsiders earlier material in the light of more recent critical attitudes. Post-colonial and feminist studies have had an impact on the way Othello is perceived and interpreted. The question of blacked-up/black/colour-blind casting and the significance of white and/or black audiences in different political and racial contexts have recently become much more clearly articulated. In the process Shakespeare himself has not escaped the charge of racism. Equally the position of Desdemona has received more focussed attention both as the forbidden object of desire within a racial framework and as a woman in her own right. This edition takes account of these developments in criticism in the theatre on film and in the adaptations which set out to interrogate Shakespeare''s text.