An Interview with Kent Thompson

  

         In the interview with Kent Thompson, the artistic director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Thompson points out that casting of Othello is the central issue of the play, Othello.  He mentions that “many directors won’t produce the play unless they know in advance who’s going to perform Othello (pg. 239)” and the reason why Thompson particularly picked the play, Othello in 1994 is that he “had an actor who could convincingly portray Othello (pg. 239).”  I was surprised that who is playing Othello could matter so much to the point where directors hesitate to produce the play.  In my opinion, a casting of Iago is more significant than a casting of Othello even though Othello is the protagonist this is so because Iago is the character who talks and leads the play.  However, according to Thompson, the actor of Othello has to be able to portray an “extraordinary warrior-hero, yet clearly be an outsider (pg. 240).”  This is ironic because usually heroes have many supporters such as friends, around them.  On the other hand, loners have no one but themselves.  It would be really difficult to act as a hero and a loner at the same time.  The race of the actor playing Othello is also important.  When Kent was asked whether if “it is possible to cast a white actor in the role today”, he mentions that “it is not wise to do so at this moment in our social/cultural history unless you are prepared to do something wildly non-traditional throughout the production.”  This indicates that Kent or most people think that that Othello cannot be performed by white actors since the play always had been performed with African-American actor playing Othello.  By reading the interview, I now understand that the casting of Othello is central point to the play, Othello.