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Paul Robeson

This was a cross-disciplinary enquiry into the career and the legacy of Paul Robeson culminating in an exhibition accompanying the recent RSC Production of Othello. Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was a stage and screen actor, a musician, an athlete, a scholar, a lawyer and a tireless campaigner for the rights of oppressed people of all races - an extraordinary icon and an enduring role-model. Blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee, attacked onstage by racist mobs, he was unable to perform in the USA in the 1950s and denied the passport that would let him work abroad. This pioneer of the Civil Rights movement finally won back his passport in the courts and ended his acting career gloriously at Stratford in 1959, playing Othello.

The Robeson exhibition

11:41 Mon 09 Nov 2009

Professor Tony Howard introduces the Robeson exhibition.

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Waiting for Robeson

11:41 Mon 09 Nov 2009

In 1958, Paul Robeson was to play Gower in Pericles. Chris Penney was anticipating his arrival. Waiting for Robeson is taken from her diary recording the announcement and her disappointment when the US government took away Robeson's passport.

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Is Obama and Othello for our times?

11:41 Mon 09 Nov 2009

Part of a series of talks to accompany the production of Othello by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Warwick Arts Centre

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Theater

Speak of me as I am: Inside Othello

11:41 Mon 09 Nov 2009

Part of a series of talks to accompany the production of Othello by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Warwick Arts Centre.

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Theater

What newly-released MI5 archives reveal about American actor Sam Wanamaker

11:41 Mon 09 Nov 2009

In Autumn 2009 Sam Wanamaker's security files in Britain's National Archive were released. Tony Howard (Warwick University) discusses the story of paranoia and commitment told by these phonetaps, intercepted letters, and secret memos.

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