To Notice or Not To Notice: Shakespeare, Black Actors, and Performance Reviews

This essay examines the 2006-2007 Royal Shakespeare Company's performances of The Winter's Tale and Pericles. Part of the RSC's Complete Works Festival, these shows employed an extremely diverse cast in repertory performances of the two plays. Through interviews with several of the actors employed and analyses of the published theater reviews, I highlight the challenges theater reviewers face when writing about non-traditionally cast productions. In the end, I advocate for a more progressive and responsible theater-reviewing style that takes into account the complexities of race in performance.