Details

An Englishman, an African man and a Moor walk into an inn and sit down and talk. No, this isn't a bad joke. We think this is how William Shakespeare, England's great playwright, learned about exotic cultures and customs from black people he knew. How else could he have written such powerful characters like Othello, Titus Andronicus, and Caliban? We think that Shakespeare had black mates who inspired him to write their stories into his plays. Maybe he met them down at the inn or alehouse (when times were really tight) and his black mates enthralled him with their tales. Did his black mates feel comfortable enough to talk about the unusual and unknown because Shakespeare was a good listener and non-judgemental? Elizabethan London was a melting pot and filled with people from all over the known world. This rehearsed reading of a new play delves into the story behind the plays and prose to speculate about the black people who may have influenced Shakespeare's writing. Come take a seat at the table where Shakespeare and his black mates are huddled in their local inn and find out if the stories they are sharing with each other could have been the inspiration some of Shakespeare's greatest plays.

Creatives/Company

Author(s): Lynda Burrell, Fran Hajat
Presented by(s): Museumand, The National Caribbean Heritage Museum