'Towards a black Hamlet'

In the 1820s theatre audiences all over America and England mocked the idea that someone of African origin could ever play the part of Hamlet. In 1948, the year of the SS Empire Windrush, such a casting became a symbol of equality, and a goal. Where is the theatre now?

---

Tony Howard is Professor of English at Warwick University and the author of Women as Hamlet (CUP 2007). Since 2012 he has led the Multicultural Shakespeare Project:

Multicultural Shakespeare Project