Multicultural Shakespeare unveils new online performance database

Warwick University researchers from the Multicultural Shakespeare in Britain project have decided to introduce a new online Shakespeare performance database, to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

The project launched in 2012, aiming “to examine the involvement of non-white actors and directors in the performance and re-interpretation of Shakespeare’s plays”.

Since its inception, issues of diversity, access and representation in British theatre have received increasing attention.

Drawing on nearly 1200 productions, The British Black and Asian Shakespeare Performance Database will hold three years of extensive research.

It reveals how Shakespeare’s plays have become increasingly multicultural over the past 85 years.

Nonetheless, the database also shows how casting patterns have remained prejudiced; with opportunities for BAME performers to play great Shakespearean leads still very slim.

For example, BAME actors have been cast more often as Laertes, Ophelia, Horatio, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz than as Hamlet.

The database was launched at a special event, “In Robeson’s Footsteps: British Black and Asian Shakespeare Now” at the Tricycle Theatre in London on 15 January 2016.

“In Robeson’s Footsteps” is a drama documentary based on research interviews with BAME actors and directors across the generations, such as Adrian Lester, Mona Hammond, Noma Dumezwemi, Iqbal Khan, Rakie Ayola, Paterson Joseph, Lucy Sheen, and Oscar James.

You can access the database here.