The Role of Race in Shakespeare's Othello

Dimpner Callahan argues Othello was a white man because since there were no black actors. Other roles in Shakespeare plays may be cast in what the Royal Shakespeare Company calls colorblind ways so that if you see the current production of As You Like It in Stratford Charles the wrestler and Duke Sr are both played by black actors but there isn't a sense that the character is black. Hugh Quashie confesses to a nagging suspicion that casting black actors as Othello gives a spurious credence to the play's depiction of a black man. He ends by saying that of all the parts in the canon Othello is the one which should not be played by a black