Othello

Charles Spencer, drama critic of The Daily Telegraph heaps praise galore on Lenny Henry as Othello; he was surprised that someone who has not been known for straight acting parts should perform this role with such aplomb. I am not surprised: he looks good for the part, his voice is clear and distictive, and he is black.
The only black actor to play Othello in the distant past was, as far as I know, Paul Robson (I believe he played it with Charles Laughton as Iago - what a double act!); he is supposed to have done a definitive account of the part.
But I feel that it is a pity that there is now an unwritten law about who plays Othello: he has first and foremost to be black. I recall, years ago when a black actor took on the role, many years after Robson, that a "brains trust" of reviewers felt that this surely would be the last time a white actor would be allowed to perform the role. It is as if that to offer it to a white actor is in some way insulting to black actors. Probably it brings to mind Al Jolson and the Black and White Minstrels and with it connotations of Uncle Tomism, even racism.
The trouble is there are not many great black actors capable of taking on the role of Othello and, indeed, I am glad to hear that Lenny Henry performs it so successfully; but it is great pity that our greatest actors, most of whom are white, are not allowed to take on one of the great tragic Shakespearean roles. This, to my mind, does smack of racism.
Anyway, Othello wasn't black but a Moore. Chiefly though he was a man. A man with phsychological problems. A man whom jealousy drives mad. To suggest that this is the prerogative of the black man is, well, just plain stupid and, indeed, racist.