The actor, who stars in the National Theatre’s stream of Les Blancs, says schools must acknowledge the damage done by colonialism – to strengthen the bonds of a multicultural society
Les Blancs was staged at the National Theatre in 2016 and is Lorraine Hansberry’s final play. It’s not as well known as her iconic A Raisin in the Sun. When did you first read it?
When I was called by the National Theatre. I did my research afterwards and realised there had been two [UK] productions of the play, one at Theatre Royal in the 1980s and the other at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. It was first performed on Broadway in 1970, after Lorraine Hansberry had died. Robert Nemiroff [her former husband] controlled the output of her estate until it was handed over to her daughter. What’s interesting is that he collated the many notes and revisions she was writing for the play on her deathbed – she died in 1965 at the age of 34 from pancreatic cancer – and put them together for the 1970 production.
When I read that version of the play, Africa seemed like a Disney version of Africa. The play is brilliant in itself but you don’t want minor issues around taste to ruin the final effect. [The director] Yaël Farber shifted things around a bit to create this production [together with restored text directed by Joi Gresham]. Coming from South Africa, and being an African person, she was very aware of race and racism in our world. She is an activist and she was absolutely the right person to carry the mantle of Lorraine Hansberry’s work.
Continue reading...from World news | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3gfqgSs
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.
No comments:
Post a Comment